


Fallen Heroes - Part I

by Alexbright99



Series: Fallen Heroes [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek - Various Authors, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-03-20 07:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 49,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13712802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexbright99/pseuds/Alexbright99
Summary: In the year 2380, hoping to prevent war, Starfleet arranges a diplomatic meeting with the enigmatic Altonoids. When the meeting turns into a deadly trap, they receive unexpected help from a rebelling member of the Q Continuum. Stripped of his powers, he's nothing more than a young man, another soldier in a hopeless battle--a sacrifice he's willing to make for those who need him.





	1. Chapter 1

Captain Duvivier sits in his ready room aboard his ship, the USS Kennedy, and stares at the small monitor on top of his desk. Captain Mathieu Duvivier is a not-too-tall man in his late thirties. His curly brown hair with few grey streaks accents his soft facial features. The captain often sports a friendly smile, and always tries to make his crew feel comfortable around him. Don't, however, mistake his friendliness for a sign of weakness. He has proven time and again that he's a capable commanding officer when the going gets tough.

"Captain's log. Stardate 57485.5. The Altonoids and the Loïdians have kept themselves in the background for a few months now, after our chief security officer caught them 'red-handed' during their attempt to alter history to their favor. Well... at least they never did anything hostile again since then. Not even one conflict... Given our somewhat problematic history with them, I can't help but feel a bit skeptical about the upcoming diplomatic talk. We've had some skirmishes in the past, but we've always managed to avoid an all-out war by brief displays of force and careful diplomacy.

"So here we are. We, and the rest of our small fleet, are to rendezvous with several Altonoid ships at Station A-12, a station located near the Federation-Altonoid neutral zone."

"We've arrived, Captain," Cmdr. Jansen says as he barges in. Commander Grad Jansen is notably taller than his captain, but he lacks Duvivier's command presence. Partly to blame is his youthful appearance, his completely harmless face, and that too-perfect haircut.

"You could've rang, Grad."

"I'm sorry, Captain. It's just that this whole situation is making me anxious. Sure, it's a diplomatic mission, but... I really don't trust those Altonoids."

"We have no reason to trust them... but we will have to, for now. It's our only way of ever reaching peace."

Cmdr. Jansen sighs and looks away.

"Speak freely, Number One," Duvivier says with an inviting smile that never fails to get his crew to speak their minds.

Once again, the smile has the desired effect. "When you think about it, the only thing we did 'wrong' was that we accidentally stumbled upon their territory. We didn't mean to invade their space; we were just exploring. We simply cannot make them understand, for some reason." He sighs deeply. "I really doubt the Altonoids want to talk. Past conflicts have shown that all they want is payback. Payback for something we've already apologized for. Whatever it is they're after, I doubt that it is peace."

"We will soon find out," Captain Duvivier says. He fiddles with a nearby PADD for a few seconds before saying, "There is one thing that worries me too, though. Captain Rinckes will also be present."

"You still dislike him for what happened during the battle of Wolf 359," Cmdr. Jansen states. "That's over thirteen years ago, isn't it time t-"

"Does time make up for what he did?"

"He had to make the decision," Cmdr. Jansen continues. "Close the hatch and save the occupants of the escape pod, or risk all their lives for the small chance of saving your mother. A command decision, Mathieu. A very tough decision, in which there's no right or wrong move. The fact remains: it wasn't Captain Rinckes who killed your mother. It was the Borg."

The captain looks his first officer straight in the eyes but doesn't say a word.

* * *

The three Federation starships (the Wolf, the Kennedy, and the Sundance) drop out of warp.

The bridge crew of the Akira-class USS Wolf is staring at the viewscreen. They see the relatively small (about 500 meters in height), unarmed space station and two Explory-class Altonoid ships flanked by two Altonoid-class ships.

Admiral Coen Van Aken is seated in the middle of the modern bridge. The admiral himself looks a lot younger than he actually is. Only the touches of gray in his short, red hair betray that he's fifty years old. He takes a look at the officers that surround him. There's his first officer, Commander Dennis Levine, who looks like a surfer with his blond hair that's barely short enough to stay within regulations, and his omnipresent smile that's destined to melt many alien hearts. There's his operations officer (and chief helmsman), the young Lieutenant Junior Grade Stephanie Grant. His tactical officer, the Swedish Lieutenant Commander Leif Anderson with his patented worried but dutiful look, is standing at his tactical station at the back of the bridge. Ensign Daniels, recently transferred from the Enterprise-E, mans the science station.

"USS Kennedy and USS Sundance are standing by, Admiral," Lt. Stephanie Grant says, interrupting Van Aken's train of thought.

"Okay, it's time to beam down to the st-" the admiral says, when suddenly the lights dim and the red alert claxons start blaring.

"Altonoid vessels are arming weapons!" Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson shouts.

"What the hell?"

"They're hailing us," Lt. Grant says with the same amount of disbelief.

"On screen!"

An Altonoid appears on the Wolf's viewscreen and on that of the other ships. Altonoids are instantly recognizable by their outrageous haircuts and the fact that their heads are covered with multiple rings and piercings. They all have this air of charismatic arrogance surrounding them, but this guy takes the cake. Clearly the fleet's leader, this Altonoid has even more rings on his face than the average Altonoid, and the arrogant twist of his lips seems to have found permanent residence on the marked face that betrays he's had a rough life.

"You Federation scum! I should've known!" the Altonoid says. "You have no interest in peace! You just want payback for what happened in the past!"

"What are you talking about?" Admiral Van Aken asks, struggling to remain calm. "We have done nothing to provoke your sudden hostility."

"Is that so?" the Altonoid asks. "And what about that cloaked Defiant-class ship?"

This is a classic example of a trick question. The USS Satellite is indeed present and cloaked, but the Altonoids could just be guessing about its presence, meaning that an affirmation of this accusation would give away the Federation's backup plan and force them to admit they violated the treaty of Algeron. On the other hand, the Altonoids could have somehow picked up the Satellite with their sensors. They did guess its ship class correctly. Denying its presence would then mean that the Altonoids know that Coen van Aken is lying, deeming all further negotiations pointless.

Van Aken decides to be as diplomatic as possible. "We are sorry for that..." he sighs. "We needed a backup plan."

"You are willing to neglect one of your own treaties in order to do this?"

"We are really sorry," Admiral Van Aken says. "But we've done this before, and it saved the entire Federation when you invaded our space with a large, cloaked fleet. We had to take our precautions."

The Altonoid is furious, which is somewhat understandable. "You do not trust us?"

"Trust is earned," Admiral Van Aken says, with an apologetic smile. "I deeply regret this situation. We should've been more open, despite what happened in the past."

"At least you seem to have regained some honesty... However, we must request the immediate departure of that vessel. We will talk about this later today."

"That is reasonable," Admiral Van Aken says, with a short bow of the head.

"Prepare to beam down. But I warn you!" The Altonoid raises his index finger. "No more surprises! Letor Fune out."

Admiral Van Aken slouches back in his chair and lets out a big sigh. "That was close... And the meeting hasn't even officially begun yet."

* * *

On the brightly lit bridge of the Prometheus-class USS Sundance, the crew can see the Defiant-class USS Satellite uncloak and warp away.

"Altonoid weapons are powering down," Lt. Broitz, the Bolian chief tactical officer, says.

"Thank goodness," the attractive Commander Melanie Simons says. "Not a good start of our diplomatic meeting, is it?"

"No... Let's hope things will finally be different at the station," Captain Stephan Rinckes says. A barely noticeable twitch in his eyes shows that he's nervous.

Captain Stephan Rinckes has a very charismatic and militaristic look. He's a tall, strong man in his mid-forties and his hard face makes anyone follow his orders without a single doubt. He has this constant stare in his narrow eyes that makes him look as if there are more things going on inside his mind than anyone is allowed to understand. This time the look is different, though. He looks nervous, more human.

"Beam-down to Station A-12 is commencing," Cmdr. Simons says, after pressing some buttons on a workstation at the side of the bridge.

Captain Rinckes rises up from the captain's chair and walks over to the turbolift. "You have the bridge, Mr. Broitz. Commander Simons, if you'd please follow me to transporter room 3." Cmdr. Simons enters the turbolift with her captain and fails to notice that his nervousness has just picked up a notch.

"Good luck, Captain!" Lt. Broitz says.

"Thanks," Captain Rinckes says, with a slightly higher pitched voice than normal, and he looks at Cmdr. Simons. She just stares at the bridge, not knowing that the captain is looking at her. The turbolift doors close...

The remainder of the bridge crew all can't suppress a smile.

* * *

"You have the bridge, Sivar," Captain Duvivier says on the bridge of the Sovereign-class USS Kennedy, as he and Cmdr. Jansen enter the turbolift.

"Yes sir." The science officer, Lieutenant Sivar, leaves his station, which is taken over immediately by an eager ensign who will probably die very quickly.

Lt. Sivar settles himself in the captain's chair. Now that the captain and his first officer are leaving the ship, he feels the weight of command pressing down on his shoulders. He doesn't show it, of course; as a Vulcan, he has learned to control and repress any emotion he might experience.

Sivar looks to the left and sees Doctor Rose van Oers sitting in the second officer's chair. The doctor is a bit of an enigmatic character, with more change in hairstyle and hair color than your average Risian chameleon bird-though currently she's reverted to her half-long, dark blonde natural hair. She is highly regarded in Starfleet, which is shown by her high rank of commander. She's a skilled doctor and her patients are very fond of her.

Dr. Van Oers gives Sivar a friendly smile. "There's a first time for everything."

As always, he has his reply ready. "Although I have commanded this ship before, logic dictates that your typically human expression presents us with the fact that this is the first time I have commanded a starship during a diplomatic meeting."

"Bet he can't say that five times in a row," helm officer Lt. Malin whispers to ops officer Lt. Sven Muntenaar, who grins at the thought.

"In fact, I believe I can, Ms. Malin," Sivar replies dryly. "However, I do not believe this is the appropriate time for a demonstration."

"No, sir. I- I'm sorry, sir," Lt. Malin stutters.

Lt. Muntenaar leans over to her with a wide smile and softly says, "Malin, you forgot about the Vulcan's exceptional hearing."

"Apparently, so have you, Lieutenant," Sivar joins in once again. "If you are done lecturing Ms. Malin about Vulcan physiology, I suggest you get back to performing your duty."

Now it's Muntenaar's turn to feel embarrassed. "Yes sir. Right away, sir." He tries to ignore the teasing smile Malin is giving him right now.

The young, blonde Trill Lieutenant Junior Grade Malin and the thirty-year-old Lieutenant Sven Muntenaar with his pitch-black hair look like complete opposites, but they get along just fine at their stations in front of the bridge.

* * *

Cmdr. Jansen and Captain Duvivier enter transporter room 2 of the USS Kennedy and step onto the platform.

"This is going to be fun..." Captain Duvivier says as he gives Jansen a wry smile. "Energize."

The transporter room dissolves around them and is replaced by a large transporter room inside Station A-12. Some nasty-looking Altonoids await them. "This way please," one of them says. They're obviously attempting to be courteous, but even without carrying weapons, they look menacing.

"It looks as if the Altonoids have taken over the station," Jansen whispers jokingly to Captain Duvivier, while they follow the Altonoids.

Captain Duvivier grins. "Already?" he whispers back. "I thought the takeover wasn't scheduled till after the buffet."

The Altonoids lead them to this station's main conference room, which turns out to be quite large and equipped with two exits: the one they came through, and another one on the opposite side. To the left they see the Federation and Altonoid banners hanging on the wall. To the right there's a huge window, which provides a panoramic view of the stars and the nearby starships. Besides enough tables and chairs, there is also plenty of tasty food available. Several strategically placed buffet carts are to supply the attendants with the necessary nourishment. After all, you'd better not talk politics on an empty stomach.

In total there are six Starfleet officers and about fifteen Altonoids present. Not all of them look like diplomats. In fact, the only Altonoid here who looks as if he has something to do with the upcoming talk is Letor Fune, whose relaxed posture suggests he's forgotten about the Satellite incident for now.

Captain Duvivier and Cmdr. Jansen walk over to Admiral Van Aken and his first officer Cmdr. Dennis Levine.

"This place really gives me the creeps," Cmdr. Levine says with a Southern accent that complements his Texan charm.

"Surprising how over a dozen Altonoids can turn a Starfleet station into a 'creepy' place, Commander Levine," Cmdr. Jansen says, after he's made sure there are no Altonoids in the near vicinity.

Captain Rinckes, holding a bowl of synthesized eggnog in his hand, spots the group from the other side of the room. He waves and starts walking toward them.

"A dozen Altonoids and Captain Rinckes..." Captain Duvivier softly says.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Admiral Van Aken asks.

Captain Duvivier quickly shakes his head.

"Anyway, I think we'd better break up," Van Aken continues with oblivious optimism. "Try to speak with the Altonoids. Show some goodwill."

Captain Rinckes joins the group. At that moment, the group disperses to seek an Altonoid who is willing to talk, leaving Rinckes alone. "Eggnog anyone?" he says to thin air.

* * *

"Do you come here often?" Admiral Van Aken asks an Altonoid in an attempt to break the ice. The Altonoid just gazes back at the admiral in awkward silence.

A few tables away, Commander Levine tries out one of his famous jokes. "And then the monkey told the Bolian..." Dennis Levine can't even finish the joke, because he's already laughing. The Altonoid in front of him looks down at his bowl of eggnog, contemplating whether he should empty it on Levine's head.

"You don't happen to have a knife on you?" Duvivier asks another Altonoid, while attempting to remove a claw from a lobster.

The Altonoid looks at Captain Duvivier, thinking, "Is this a trick question?"

"Or a phaser?" Cmdr. Jansen asks jokingly when he sees his captain struggling with the lobster. The Altonoid walks away, shaking his head.

Cmdr. Simons on the other hand doesn't seem to be having problems conversing with the Altonoids. Several Altonoids have formed a group around the pretty, blonde commander. One might wonder why... Captain Rinckes is standing behind a buffet cart and observes it all with a touch of jealousy. When he's decided he's had enough, he accidentally stabs his fork into a nearby Altonoid's hand instead of his unfinished tuna salad and walks over to Cmdr. Simons and her entourage, leaving a cursing Altonoid behind.

"Commander, do you have a moment?" Captain Rinckes asks. Commander Simons turns around and smiles at Stephan Rinckes. Rinckes swallows some saliva, nearly chokes on it, and emits a series of coughs. "Could you follow me please?" he continues with a higher-pitched voice.

"Sure," Cmdr. Simons says. "We'll talk later, guys."

They walk away and Simons waves at the Altonoids. "Those Altonoids are nicer than I thought," she says as they exit the large room.

"Just wait till they meet your mother," Captain Rinckes mutters beneath his breath.

* * *

"Everything seems to be running smoothly." Lieutenant Commander Henry Wilson, the commander of the station, appears content. The command room he's in looks like the bridge of a starship and contains five officers at present: Wilson himself, security officer Lieutenant Natalie Wyobi, and three no-name ensigns.

"The security teams should've checked in five minutes ago," Lt. Wyobi says. "Odd..."

"It's probably nothing, Lieutenant," Lt. Cmdr. Wilson says, leaning back in his chair.

"I suppose you're right. There are roughly 200 Starfleet officers plus the Federation-Altonoid delegation to protect. I suppose they're busy enough as it is. I'll give them a little more time."

* * *

Cmdr. Simons and Captain Rinckes walk down the hallway and come to a halt on a quiet spot. The corridors appear to be deserted.

"There's something I've wanted to tell you all along," Rinckes says.

"Another poem?" Cmdr. Simons answers with a smile. A few weeks ago, Rinckes had surprised everyone by suddenly letting loose his artistic side. The poetry he had written became instantly legendary among the crew, because no one had even the slightest idea what it was all about, and it was a very uncharacteristic thing to do for the stern captain, to put it mildly.

Captain Rinckes laughs a forced (and painfully fake) laugh. "No... I've wanted to tell you this for a long time, but I never got around to it, and—"

* * *

"Strange..." Lt. Wyobi says. "The internal sensor readings indicate nothing unusual."

"And that is strange?" Lt. Cmdr. Wilson asks.

"Yes it is. Normally, there are some random energy peaks in the sensor sweeps. But now they all occur at an exact interval of 4.7 seconds. Very strange."

* * *

"...after the poem incident I had lost all my confidence..." Captain Rinckes continues.

* * *

"These readings are so consistent," Lt. Wyobi says while looking at the data on her console, "that you would almost say that they are fake."

"Why would anyone create fake sensor readings for the security sca—" Lt. Cmdr. Wilson says. He gives Lt. Wyobi a terrified look when he realizes what the answer must be.

Lt. Wyobi turns around to face Wilson and instantaneously gets hit in the chest by a phaser beam. She falls off her chair, dead...

Lt. Cmdr. Wilson jumps off his chair and turns around. A group of armed-to-the-teeth Altonoids exits the turbolift. They blast the three no-name ensigns, who all collapse, leaving only Lt. Cmdr. Wilson alive.

* * *

"What it all comes down to is this..." Captain Rinckes says.

* * *

Lt. Cmdr. Wilson looks at the dead crewmen and then at the Altonoids. "Red alert!" he shouts at the top of his lungs.

* * *

"I love—" Captain Rinckes says, but suddenly the entire station goes to red alert. The lights dim notably and red alert panels light up on the bulkheads. "Hell!" Rinckes curses.

"You love... hell?" Cmdr. Simons asks, confused.

* * *

Lt. Cmdr. Wilson runs over to the security station in front of the bridge and presses some buttons, opening a comm channel throughout the entire station. The Altonoids don't know exactly what he's doing. One of the Altonoids wants to shoot him nevertheless.

"No!" another Altonoid says. It can be heard all over the station.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Rinckes asks, happy to have a subject change at hand.

"Yes. You just took me to these corridors to tell me you love hell?" Cmdr. Simons asks.

"No, listen." Rinckes points at the roof.

The Altonoid voice is clearly audible everywhere on the station. "Our orders are to shoot the engineers and security officers, plus all officers below the rank of lieutenant commander. The rest we will have to hold hosta— What is this? He opened a comm channel, the stupid Federation idiot. Secure him!"

* * *

In the conference room, the audible struggle has alerted the Starfleet delegation. Before they can react accordingly, the Altonoids that surround them arm themselves with phasers rifles they'd kept hidden under their uniforms. An additional eight Altonoids enter the room, fully armed.

"What the jellybeans?!" Captain Duvivier shouts.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Admiral Van Aken shouts, even louder. The Altonoids remain silent and point their rifles at the four Starfleet officers.

"Sit down, humans," Letor Fune orders, clearly taking control of the situation.

"Shouldn't there be six of them?" another Altonoid, with a bandage on his left hand, asks, pointing at the Federation quartet.

"Find the other two," Letor Fune commands.

"That's really like Captain Rinckes, running off like that," Duvivier says. "I wouldn't be surprised if he'd somehow be involved with this entire situation."

"Hold on a minute. You're saying Captain Rinckes is a traitor?" Admiral Van Aken asks, unable to hold back his disbelief.

"I'm saying I won't be surprised if he turns out to be one."

"And I'm saying we have bigger concerns here!" Cmdr. Jansen says, pointing at the heavily armed Altonoids who are keeping their rifles fixed on the Starfleet officers.

* * *

Aboard the USS Kennedy:

"Some kind of shield has formed around the station, preventing beaming in or out!" Lt. Muntenaar says.

"Why would they do th—" Lt. Malin asks, but the chief tactical officer, Lieutenant Steven Appels, interrupts her.

"The Altonoid ships are raising their shields!" Lt. Appels shouts.

"I'm no expert in diplomatic meetings," Dr. Van Oers says with a touch of sarcasm, "but I don't think this is supposed to happen."

"You are correct, Doctor," Lt. Sivar says. "The presently occurring events are not enviable."

"What do we do?" Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman, the Kennedy's chief engineer, asks.

"We await the decision of the lead ship, which is in this case..." Lt. Sivar says as he raises an eyebrow, "...the USS Wolf."

* * *

Aboard the USS Wolf:

"We must act now, Commander!" Lt. Stephanie Grant says.

"I know, Stephanie. Ease off," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. He is in charge of the Wolf plus the small fleet consisting of the Kennedy and the Sundance, now that its flag officers are being held captive at the station. "Hail them."

"They're already transmitting a message, sir. They're sending it to the nearest starbase. Starbase 9." Lt. Grant says.

"Put it on our screen too, if you can."

"Done."

Letor Fune, standing in the conference hall with the four Starfleet officers behind him, appears on the viewscreen. "This is Letor Fune representing all Altonoids. We have taken over Station A-12 and are holding the crews of this station and the three accompanying Federation ships hostage. Among the hostages are this area's most prominent flag officers, including Admiral Coen van Aken and Captain Mathieu Duvivier. We will kill and destroy everyone and everything here if you do not obey our demands.

"Our demands are simple: withdraw all Starfleet activity in this region of space. We demand the dismantling of all your starbases along the Altonoid neutral zone. In addition, we demand that you sign one of our treaties that will makes sure you'll never interfere with us again. Obey these demands, or the hostages will die. We'll give you five hours to decide. Letor Fune out."

* * *

The bridge crews of the Sundance and Kennedy have also watched the message. Lt. Sivar stares at the viewscreen from his captain's chair, aboard the Kennedy. All he can say is: "Fascinating..."

"We have a situation on our hands," Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman sighs.

"We have indeed," Lt. Appels says, speaking quickly. "The Altonoid vessels are moving to intercept us. They're powering up weapons!"


	2. Chapter 2

Ever since Station A-12 went to red alert (not that long ago), Captain Stephan Rinckes and his first officer Commander Melanie Simons have been roaming the corridors, dodging the occasional armed Altonoid. By now, Captain Rinckes has come up with a plan. "We must find a communications station because our combadges don't work. Must be the Altonoids' doing."

Commander Simons brushes a few strands of blonde hair away from her eyes. "And we should get some weaponry."

"That won't hurt..." Captain Rinckes says. When he sees that his first officer is raising an eyebrow at him, he continues with a sheepish, "Well, it won't hurt us."

Cmdr. Simons shakes her head.

"There should be a weapons locker up ahead," Captain Rinckes continues. And indeed, soon enough they see one up ahead where the corridor ends in a T-junction. They head for it, but just when they're about to reach it, they see it's being guarded by an Altonoid. This one looks like any other Altonoid soldier: tall, strong, adorned with multiple tattoos and piercings, and equipped with a rather huge hairdo that partially covers his grumpy face. Luckily, he doesn't spot the two Starfleet officers.

Captain Rinckes and Cmdr. Simons quickly hide themselves behind the corner. "All right," Captain Rinckes says calmly. "What do we do now?"

Without replying, Cmdr. Simons plucks one of the three rank pips off her collar and throws it at the bulkhead behind the Altonoid. The pip causes a ticking sound when it bounces off the bulkhead and hits the floor. The Altonoid soldier looks down and inadvertently gives Captain Rinckes all the time he needs to run over to him. The distracted Altonoid looks up too late to prevent himself from being kicked in the stomach; he slams into the bulkhead behind him and collapses.

"We're quite a team, aren't we?" Cmdr. Simons says playfully as she walks over to her captain. The captain replies with a brief hint of a smile, and he opens the weapons locker to grab its contents: a handphaser and a heavy phaser rifle. He gives the handphaser to Cmdr. Simons, who in turn gives him a very punishing look. Captain Rinckes swiftly gives her the phaser rifle and takes back the handphaser. Simons nods approvingly with a teasing smile on her face. "Wise move, Captain."

Rinckes wants to retort, but thinks better of it and walks off. Simons follows, holding her newly gained phaser rifle steady in her hands.

* * *

In the station's command center, now completely run by Altonoids:

"A weapons locker near guard DE-47 has been opened," says an Altonoid who has taken the security station.

"Odd. We do not use Starfleet weaponry," says another Altonoid, who has seated himself in the captain's chair. "Contact that guard. Ask him what's going on."

"Yes sir." A few silent seconds pass. "He's not responding."

The commanding Altonoid furrows his brow. "Captain Rinckes and his first officer are still at large?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "I think we've just found them. Send a security team to intercept them."

* * *

The two Explory-class and the two Altonoid-class Altonoid vessels close in on the USS Wolf, the USS Kennedy, and the USS Sundance. The two Altonoid-class ships break formation. This class of ships has a very distinctive look, because it consists of two large saucers that are connected to each other via a 'hallway' section. That hallway section contains a very powerful weapon, reminiscent of the plasma weapon the Romulans used over a century ago in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the Enterprise. The Altonoids never mentioned the original name of their weapon, so for the lack of a better term, Starfleet officers began dubbing it the 'spaceblaster.'

One of those vessels now faces the Kennedy and loads its spaceblaster. The USS Kennedy responds by firing a barrage of quantum torpedoes, which hit the loading spaceblaster dead-on, decreasing the shields of that Altonoid ship immensely. The subsequent explosions of more impacting quantum torpedoes knock the spaceblaster offline before it can return fire. The two saucers still contain weaponry, but with its spaceblaster out of the way, the ship is no match for the Kennedy.

* * *

Aboard the USS Sundance:

The first weapon strikes coming from the other Altonoid-class vessel rock the bridge. The Bolian Lieutenant Broitz looks nervous as he takes in the sight of the double-saucered enemy ship. He knows the Sundance has one great tactical advantage, and it's about time he put it to good use. "Initiate multi-vector assault mode!"

"Initiating decoupling sequence," the computer replies. The ship goes to blue alert, which is emphasized by the fact that all pillars on the bridge, as well as the bridge dome on the ceiling, start blinking blue light. "Auto-separation in ten seconds."

As the computer counts down to zero, Lt. Broitz fails to notice that the Altonoid ship that was attacking them only moments ago has ceased firing. He also fails to notice that its spaceblaster is emitting green light that steadily grows brighter and brighter by the second.

"Separation sequence in progress," the computer announces, moments before the bridge shudders briefly but firmly. The Sundance separates into three battle-ready sections: its saucer (which contains the bridge and most of the crew), the upper secondary hull (the middle section), and the lower secondary hull.

"Initiate attack pattern Alpha," Lt. Broitz says with as much confidence as he can muster.

"Specify target."

When Broitz finally notices that the Altonoid ship is mere seconds away from firing its formidable spaceblaster, he exclaims, "Holy crap!"

"That is not a valid target."

The startled Broitz jumps up from the captain's chair and points a shaking finger at the viewscreen. "The Altonoid ship! Target the Altonoid ship!"

That's all the information the ship's computer needs. The saucer and lower secondary hull maneuver away from the middle section, which engages full impulse and heads straight for the Altonoid vessel. However, that vessel unleashes its spaceblaster and fires what seems like a giant green orb made of devastating energy. The inevitable impact is huge and causes the middle section to lose its shields and sustain heavy damage. However, it has retained enough momentum to keep going, drifting out of control toward its opponent. The slowly maneuvering Altonoid ship tries to move out of the way, but it's too late. The drifting section hits the Altonoid ship at full speed and explodes in its shields. That blast shatters the hallway section, turning the one Altonoid ship into two half Altonoid ships.

"We've performed an unwanted saucer separation on them, sir!" Lt. Jena Roguez, manning the tactical station, says. "We've also knocked out their shields and blew many of their important systems offline."

"That makes them easy targets. It's like a shooting gallery," Lt. Broitz says. He forces a smile, carefully neglecting to dwell on the fact that he has just lost one third of the Sundance.  
Lt. Roguez, however, has a casualty report ready. "When we lost the middle section, we lost thirty-eight crew members." There's definitely an accusing tone hidden in her voice.  
"I know, Lieutenant," Broitz says as he sits down in the captain's chair. "Let's not think about that for now."

"The captain's not going to like this."

Broitz wipes a bit of sweat from his forehead. "Look, he left me in command. Just keep firing at the Altonoid ship."

Lt. Roguez does just that. She commands both remaining sections of the Sundance to continue their attack on the two Altonoid saucers.

* * *

In the meanwhile, the USS Kennedy has seriously damaged the other Altonoid-class ship, and she deals the last blow in the form of a dozen photon torpedoes that rip open the hull of the starboard saucer and make it explode in a huge blast a few seconds later. The resulting explosions are large enough to consume the port saucer as well.

Those combined blasts provide enough momentum to hurl the remains of the port saucer toward an Explory-class ship the USS Wolf is trying to deal with. The large, beam-shaped Explory-class vessel fires its starboard phaser arrays in an attempt to destroy the burning hulk, but only manages to break it in two. Those two large pieces hit the upper and lower side of the Altonoid ship, smash through the shields, and scrape hull armor and external devices (such as weapons and sensors) off their foundations. The damaged Explory-class vessel gets embraced and consumed by the remains of the Altonoid-class vessel, and starts drifting too, into the direction of the second Explory-class ship...

That ship initiates full impulse in a futile attempt to escape imminent destruction. Once again, they can't get out of the way in time, and the aft of the Explory-class vessel gets hit by the remains of its colleagues. The ship careens out of control, only to be greeted by a fatal salvo of photon torpedoes originating from the USS Wolf.

* * *

Aboard the USS Kennedy:

The Trill Lieutenant Malin scratches her head. "That was foolish of them. I mean, sure, we outgunned them and all, but this was just... way too easy."

Sven Muntenaar, the black-haired lieutenant who's sitting next to her, tries to ignore the quick victory and stays alert. "The USS Sundance reports the destruction of the last Altonoid-class ship. Now we can focus on the situation aboard the station."

"The shield that prevents beaming is still in place. I don't think there's much we can do from here," the chief engineer, Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman, says.

"We'll have to destroy it somehow," Lt. Appels says. The short but muscular lieutenant rarely loses his cool, but he can appear a bit trigger-happy during times like these.

"First we will have to find out where that shield array is located, Lieutenant," says the Vulcan Lt. Sivar, who's still sitting in the captain's chair.

"We're receiving a message from the station," Lt. Muntenaar says. "It's being sent to all ships."

* * *

Aboard the USS Wolf:

"Well, put it on screen, Stephanie," Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson says. He sits in the captain's chair of the Akira-class Wolf with the ease of someone who's been sitting there all his life. "The lead ship of the fleet should deal with all communications."

"Yes sir," Lt. Stephanie Grant says. No need to recite Starfleet regulations to me, she adds in thought.

Captain Rinckes appears on the viewscreen, with a corridor of Station A-12 in the background. The captain of the Sundance looks ruffled. "Finally!" he exclaims. "We're probably being tracked down as we speak, so I'll keep things short."

"Captain Rinckes, I presume?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson asks.

"Yes. Captain Rinckes." The captain makes no effort to hide his impatience. "The Altonoids have taken over the station. We've been running from them for a while now. I thought you'd like to be inform-"

"Captain, the Altonoids have raised some kind of shield that prevents beaming and combadge usage," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. "As long as that shield is up, we can't help you."

"We've found the location of the shield emitter," Ensign Daniels says, manning the science station. "It's located on deck 54, near section Beta 12."

"Okay, I got that," Rinckes says. "That's not far from here. And t-"

"You must destroy or disable that system by any means necessary," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says urgently.

"Say, who's the captain here?" Captain Rinckes says. Before he can continue asking rhetorical questions, he is interrupted by Commander Simons, who runs past him. She's shooting at something that's invisible for the bridge crew.

"We've got to leave now!" they hear Cmdr. Simons shout.

Captain Rinckes grabs his phaser and starts shooting in the same direction. "You heard the lady," he says gruffly, right before he runs away too. Only a few seconds later, several Altonoids run past view. One Altonoid halts and looks right into the screen's camera, showing his unpleasant face to the bridge crew.

"Hello...?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says, looking at the ugly Altonoid. "I am Lieu-"

The Altonoid grabs his phaser and shoots the camera.

Now that the connection has been terminated, the viewscreen shows the Federation logo in peaceful silence. "Well..." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says as he looks around for a brief, awkward moment. "Now it all depends on Captain Rinckes and Commander Simons."

* * *

An Altonoid phaser beam narrowly misses Captain Rinckes and destroys an LCARS display on a nearby bulkhead, as he and Cmdr. Melanie Simons run through the corridors in an attempt to shake off the four Altonoids that are pursuing them.

Suddenly, Captain Rinckes turns around to face the Altonoids, causing him to evade a phaser beam that would've hit him in the back if he hadn't turned around. He aims his phaser, shoots one Altonoid, and turns around again, barely missing even more incoming phaser fire.

They're both running as fast as they can. Despite that, the Altonoids keep gaining on them. Just when they're about to run out of options, Rinckes spots an open entrance to one of this station's many computer rooms. He guides himself and his first officer inside, opens a wall panel near the doorway, and rips out some circuitry, fusing the heavy door behind them shut.

After a quick sigh of relief, they notice that there are two doors ahead of them now. "Two ways to get to the shield emitter," Captain Rinckes says. "Door number one or door number two. Which one do we choose?"

"We must separate. It'll increase our chances of success," Cmdr. Simons says.

Captain Rinckes looks at his own handphaser and Melanie Simons' somewhat more impressive phaser rifle. "Easy for you to say," he says with a smile. When he looks his first officer in the eyes, he instantly regains his seriousness. "I'd rather stay with you."

She doesn't pick up on his sudden caring attitude. "We don't have time for a discussion. They can break through the door any second now." And with that, she walks toward the right door. "I'll meet you there, okay?"

Captain Rinckes doesn't like this situation one bit. He doesn't want to let her out of his sight, not under these dangerous conditions. However, he knows that the mission should come first. "Okay," he says, with reluctance.

Cmdr. Simons goes through the right door, which closes behind her, leaving Rinckes to stare at the closed door for a brief while. A series of loud clangs made by the Altonoids in an attempt to break through the heavy door makes him realize he has to get out of here quickly. Without further hesitation, he goes through the left door and carries on with his mission. He's got to find that shield array before it's too late.

* * *

Through the large window of the main conference hall, the hostages plus the Altonoids guarding them can see the triumphant Federation starships facing the debris of the Altonoid vessels. The four captured Starfleet officers (Admiral Van Aken, Commander Levine, Captain Duvivier, and Commander Jansen) witnessed the entire battle and can now see the USS Satellite warping in.

"Why don't you give up, Letor Fune?" Admiral Van Aken asks. "Your fleet has been destroyed, while our fleet has grown even bigger. Surrender now; we're still willing to continue negotiations."

"We have no reason for concern. Our reinforcements will arrive shortly," Letor Fune says.

Commander Levine can no longer remain silent. "Stop this, Fune! Before we go beyond the point of no return, which will result in open warfare!"

Fune just keeps staring at the large window.

* * *

Captain Rinckes marches down a corridor, evades a group of Altonoids, and enters a square room. Seven armed-to-the-teeth Altonoids enter the room from the opposite side!

"What's that?" one of them shouts, pointing ahead.

"Relax, Guz. That's what humans call a Jefferies tube..." another Altonoid says. "You know, we have crawlways on our ships and stations too." This makes the other Altonoids laugh.

"I really thought I saw something."

"You are seeing ghosts, Guz. Those two Starfleet officers Fune 'misplaced' can't be here. They wouldn't have gotten this far."

"Don't underestimate us," Captain Rinckes whispers to himself. He managed to dive into that Jefferies tube not a second too soon, and now he's crawling his way forward.

At the end of the tube, the captain readies his phaser and opens the hatch. There are a few containers stacked close to the exit, so Rinckes can hide behind them without being seen. He carefully peeks out from behind one of the containers and sees a rather bulky Altonoid device sitting in the center of what appears to be a small cargo bay. That must be the shield array. Though at least a dozen Altonoids are guarding it, the captain is happy to have found the shield emitter relatively quickly. "That science ensign from the Wolf really knows his stuff," Rinckes whispers to himself. "Now, how do I destroy that shield array?"

Captain Rinckes looks at his phaser and comes up with a nice idea. He sets the phaser to overload and throws it at the shield array. Quickly, he jumps back into the Jefferies tube, carefully closes its hatch, and crawls away at a breakneck pace. The handphaser hits the shield array, bounces off it, and lands on the floor, all the while emitting an increasingly high-pitched sound. A nearby Altonoid walks over to the dropped phaser and picks it up. Before he realizes what's going on, the handphaser explodes.

* * *

The station rocks and the lights flicker, distracting Letor Fune from a conversation with another Altonoid in the conference room. Fune rattles off a series of curses in the Altonoid language. Luckily, the universal translator is unfamiliar with most of these new terms... Once Fune has regained some of his composure, he asks, "What's going on?!"

The Altonoid that Letor Fune was talking to runs over to a nearby wall panel. "The shield array has been destroyed! It must be Captain Rinckes' doing. Or m—"

"Rinckes again? I hate that guy," Letor Fune grunts.

"Take a number..." Captain Duvivier sighs. Nobody hears him.

"At least this area is still shielded," says the Altonoid near the wall panel. "I don't think they'll be able to find that second generator. We made sure it's hidden very well."

"Didn't we know where they were?" Letor Fune is obviously displeased. "Didn't we have their location when they opened the weapons locker? And when they sent a message to the USS Wolf?"

"We don't know where they are now. We've lost track of them."

"We outnumber them a million to one and you can't find them?!" Letor Fune shouts. "Find them! Find them and bring them to me!" Fune lifts an index finger and his voice turns ominous. "And if you cannot capture them alive, kill them." He turns and faces the four Starfleet officers. "You don't happen to know where Captain Rinckes might be, do you, fellows?" he asks with feigned kindness.

"May I make a suggestion?" Captain Duvivier asks calmly. "I think he's headed for the shuttle bay right now with his tail tucked between his legs."

Admiral Van Aken gives Duvivier the most punishing look in human history.

* * *

Aboard the USS Wolf:

"Captain Rinckes and Commander Simons have made it!" Lt. Stephanie Grant cheers.

"Made what?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says, without looking up from a PADD that a junior officer handed to him moments ago. The Wolf suffered only minor damage during the surprisingly short skirmish with the Altonoids, and the repairs are coming along nicely.

"The shield! It's down!" Lt. Grant says. Her happiness disappears quickly. "Oh... The Altonoids have raised a shield around the conference room. We still can't beam the hostages out."

Ensign Daniels shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I can't find the location of this second shield array. I think they've jammed its power source."

"But we can now send troops," Lt. Grant says, her enthusiasm building up again.

Anderson nods and presses a button on his chair's armrest. "This is the bridge to Lieutenant Hoper. Are your security officers standing by?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Hoper replies in his dark and raspy voice.

"Are we going to release the hostages by force?" Lt. Grant asks loudly enough to be heard by Lt. Hoper.

"Negative. That would put the flag officers at too much risk. We must take that second shield generator down so we can simply beam them to safety."

"Agreed," Cmdr. Anderson replies. "Assemble your troops and commence beam-down. Bridge out." He looks around for a brief moment. Though he's relieved that they've gained the upper hand, there is still a lot of work to do. "We should be able to contact Rinckes now that the first shield is gone." He presses his combadge. "Commander Anderson to Captain Rinckes."

"Yes?" they hear.

"You did it," Anderson says. "Congratulations, sir."

"I know," Captain Rinckes replies. "I assume you will send in troops now."

"That's right. But they've raised a new shield around the hostage room. You must find its generator and destroy it. We don't know where it is. Frankly, it could be anywhere."

"Hmm..." There's an awkward pause, lasting for a few seconds. "I'll look for it."

"Okay... Is Commander Simons still with you?"

"We've split up. I'm searching for her now."

"All right, but if I may be so bold, the conference room shielding is our top priority."

"Thank you for reminding me..." Sarcasm drips from his voice. "Rinckes out."

"Bye, Captain," Anderson says. "Good luck." He turns to Lt. Grant after the comm channel has closed. "He's not exactly the cheery type, is he?"

Grant just shrugs and continues her work.

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Kennedy:

"Lieutenant Appels, have your troops ready to beam down to the station," Lt. Sivar says.

"Already doing it," Lt. Appels says, sending messages throughout the ship via his tactical station. "We'll give the Altonoids a hell of a warm welcome."

"Permission to come along, Lieutenant," Lt. Malin asks.

"We could use all the help we can get," Lt. Appels admits.

Lieutenant Sivar raises a disapproving eyebrow. "You're needed at the helm, Ms. Malin."

"I never get to do anything fun," Lt. Malin says half-jokingly.

"Believe me..." Lt. Appels says, as he opens a weapons locker and arms himself. "War is not fun. I can remember the Dominion War all too well... I think we all can." Nobody is paying attention to him, because everybody is looking at the center of the bridge. None other than Q and Tony Q have appeared on the bridge, apparently from out of nowhere. They both look disgruntled.

The self-acclaimed 'god-like' Q is infamous for his frequent visits to several Starfleet vessels, including this one. Except for one very brief stint as a human, he has always been a Q, and he always will be. Tony Q, though, is a completely different story. He used to be a human called Tony Blue, until he was chosen by the Q Continuum to successfully introduce human nature to the powerful but arrogant Continuum. While neither fully Q nor human anymore, he served Starfleet aboard this ship, the USS Kennedy. Due to mysterious circumstances (being sponsored by a race of omnipotent beings can be beneficial sometimes), he rose to the rank of commander, despite being only eighteen years old. He has used his powers to save the Federation on several occasions and has become a respectable—if not a bit odd—Starfleet officer.

Recently, Tony Q became a full Q and gave up his role in Starfleet. With his rather youthful age, he may not exactly look like a typical commander, but he surely doesn't lack the self-confidence—or arrogance, if you prefer. Now he stands in the middle of the bridge, with his arms crossed. "I've made up my mind, Q!"

"Reconsider! It's not worth it!" Q retorts. "Let the Federation take care of themselves."

"They need my help! They'll never succeed without me." Tony can't help but sound more like a spoiled teenager than the robust, brave war hero he's trying to be.

"Look, we've been through this! Enough is enough. You're a Q now. You have responsibilities to the Continuum. I know these humans are an important part of your history, but if the Continuum tells you to back off..." Q uncharacteristically drops his melodramatic demeanor and appears almost frightened when he says, "...you back off!"

"I've made the decision, Q." Tony Q snaps his fingers. A heavy phaser rifle appears in his hands.

"The Continuum won't allow this disobedience. They'll reduce your powers, or worse."

Tony doesn't say a word and looks at Q with a determined expression on his face.

"All right! Fine!" Q shouts. "Have it your way, Commander Tony Blue! But don't come crying to me for help when things get out of hand!" And with that, Q disappears in a white flash.

Tony Q looks at the bridge crew, who all stare at him in stunned silence. "What?!"

Lt. Sivar stands up from his chair and walks over to Tony. "It appears you have decided to provide assistance in our attempt to recapture the station."

Tony Q sighs dramatically. "Well yes! You might say that!"

"And I assume the Q Continuum is not pleased with that," Lt. Sivar says.

Tony looks at Dr. Rose van Oers. "I didn't know Lieutenant Sivar had such well-developed telepathic abilities," he says, making the doctor smile.

Lieutenant Appels decides to join the conversation. "All right, Tony. If you want to help us, resolve the situation with a snap of the fingers."

Tony snaps his fingers, but nothing happens—as expected. "They took away my powers," he groans. "But I'm undoubtedly still immortal. The Continuum can't afford to lose me."

"All right, you can come along, Commander," Appels says with slight reluctance. "One thing needs to be absolutely clear: once we're down there, I'm in command of the squad. Understood?"

"Yeah, sure." Tony's lackluster reply doesn't really ease Lt. Appels' mind.

"Now that their primary shield is gone, the scanners indicate there are many dead or injured Starfleet officers on the station," Lt. Muntenaar says. "The Altonoids didn't take over the station the nice way..."

"Indeed, Mr. Muntenaar. Their orders are to shoot anyone below the rank of lieutenant commander, or anyone who wears a security or engineering uniform," Lt. Sivar says.

"Maybe we should all wear command uniforms with the rank insignia of a commander?" a nearby ensign says.

Lt. Appels lets out an annoyed sigh. "No, Ensign Parkin. That will result in a change of orders for the Altonoids, making them shoot every commander in sight." He takes a long look at Commander Tony Q, who gives him a haughty look in return. "Actually, it might be worth a try," Appels sighs.

"Very funny, Lieutenant," Tony replies. "I'd expected a bit more sympathy, even from you. I'm risking a lot by just being here trying to help you. The least you could do is try to appear grateful."

Lt. Appels is not impressed and replies with a stern, "I'll thank you once this situation is resolved." Tony wants to retort, but Appels cuts him short by saying, "We've wasted enough time."

"Very well..." Tony mutters.

Lt. Appels doesn't hear him. Instead, he faces the doctor and says, "Doctor Van Oers, please join my away team. They'll undoubtedly require medical assistance at the station."

"Now, that's not a very optimistic of you, Appels," Tony says. "Do you always take such poor care of your away teams? Things have really changed since I left."

Lieutenant Appels sighs. "I was talking about the crew of Statio—"

"I know, I know," Tony says. "Let's go now. We've wasted enough time."

Lt. Appels wants to say something impolite, but Dr. Van Oers gently coerces him to the turbolift. Commander Tony Q follows.

* * *

A few minutes later, the trio plus six security officers materialize in a corridor of the station.

"Right now, multiple troops are beaming in from our ships. I am our squad leader," Lt. Appels says.

"How do you do?" Cmdr. Tony Q says as he takes a bow. "Enough kidding around, I am well informed. We've got to find the shield array that generates the shield around the hostage room." Tony says that last sentence as if he has repeated it a billion times before.

"And I shall attempt to patch up every injured Starfleet officer we encounter," Dr. Van Oers says, genuinely optimistic as always.

"Yes. Okay, listen up. Our team will have to search deck 52," Lt. Appels says. "Commander? Are you listening?"

Tony Q breaks off his exchange of smiles with an attractive, brown-haired, female security ensign that's part of their team. "Sorry. You were saying?"

Lt. Appels grumbles. "Let's go find that array." The group leaves the area with phaser rifles ready.

* * *

Aboard the USS Kennedy:

"Away teams have all checked in and have begun their search," says Ensign Parkin, who now mans the tactical station.

"I'm reading a funny si—" Lt. Muntenaar says, but after a quizzical look from Lt. Sivar he corrects himself, "a peculiar signal emerging from right in front of us."

"I see it too," Lt. Malin adds.

Muntenaar's look quickly changes from quizzical to alarmed. "It's an Altonoid ship uncloaking directly ahead!"

A strange-looking variant of the huge, rectangular Massal-class appears on the screen. Its entire surface seems to be covered by yellow wiring. The wiring lights up at random points until they converge to form four strong phaser beams that immediately start pounding on the shields of the USS Satellite.

"Fascinating," Lt. Sivar says with a raised eyebrow. "Ensign Parkin, ready weapons."


	3. Chapter 3

The upgraded Massal-class Altonoid warship that has appeared in front of the Kennedy is an awe-inspiring sight. The chief engineer, Lt. Cmdr. André Soeteman, is just as unhappy with its sudden arrival as everyone else on the bridge, but the unusual phaser system certainly has piqued his interest. "They've gotten rid of their torpedo bays and their spaceblaster. Instead, those yellow 'wires' around its hull intertwine to form one incredibly powerful array." He's having trouble keeping a fair portion of inappropriate enthusiasm from showing in his voice. "It covers almost fifty percent of the ship. I must say I'm impressed."

Lt. Muntenaar stares at the viewscreen, which displays the USS Satellite attempting to dodge incoming fire originating from the huge Altonoid vessel. "I've never seen such a weapon."

"Neither have I," the bald Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says with a subdued smile. "But I'm sure it can pack quite a wallop."

"This is no time for idle chatter, Commander," Lt. Sivar says with his typical Vulcan stoicism. "Ensign Parkin, open fire at the Massal."

"Massal?" the young Trill Lt. Malin says. "I think we should call this one an Uber-Massal, sir." Her remark causes a raised eyebrow on Sivar's face.

Ensign Parkin presses several buttons on his tactical station and two photon torpedoes are propelled toward the Massal. The shields of the Massal consume the two torpedoes completely—as expected. However, it did draw the Altonoids' attention! The Massal stops firing for a moment, as if deciding which target to pick on. After only a few seconds of rest, the 'wires' light up again and four phaser beams hit the bow of the Kennedy, making her bridge rumble and shake.

"Evasive maneuvers," Lt. Sivar says calmly.

"Wow," Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says, though this time he sounds intimidated rather than enthusiastic. "Our front shields went down to ninety percent—in just one hit!"

Nearby consoles send battalions of sparks flying in all directions. Lt. Sivar remains calm, despite the fact that a few sparks have landed in his hair. He takes out the developing flames with one well-aimed pat and says dryly, "Now would be a good time to return fire, Ensign Parkin."

The Kennedy fires half a dozen photon torpedoes at the Massal. The Wolf and both parts of the Sundance join the Kennedy in the attack and back her up with photon torpedoes and phaser fire. Apparently, the combined attack is successful; the Massal stops firing at the Kennedy.

"It seems they're not as tough as they appear," Chief of Operations Lt. Sven Muntenaar says. It's almost as if the Altonoids can hear him, because they start firing again, making the bridge rumble and shake once more.

"It seems they're also pretty damn stubborn," Lt. Malin adds wryly.

Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman only has eyes for his engineering station and sees the shield readouts dropping rapidly. "Our forwards shields are down to seventy-five percent and falling."

* * *

On the bridge of the Defiant-class USS Satellite:

Although the Satellite has taken a little battle damage, the tall brunette Captain Suzan Reynolds appears unmoved. "I've had enough of this," she says, annoyed rather than impressed by the Massal's presence. "Initiate attack pattern Blue Theta. Keep our weapons hot and firing."

Lt. Armand Callaway, the ship's chief tactical officer, complies. In front of the bridge, seated behind the U-shaped helm/ops console, Lieutenant Bart Lynnson doesn't agree right away. "Attack pattern Blue Theta? This is risky, Captain." Captain Reynolds doesn't respond at all. Lynnson knows better than to press the issue. When the captain's got her mind set on something, nothing will get in her way...

The USS Satellite breaks formation and speeds toward the Massal, firing a barrage of phaser pulses with her rapid-fire phaser pulse cannons. Unfortunately, the pulses don't have the intended effect on the Massal's actions; the Altonoids keep firing at the Kennedy. Nevertheless, the Satellite continues her assault. The USS Wolf and the two sections of the Sundance back the Satellite up by firing what they've got. Before long, the Massal finally starts taking some damage to its shields.

"This is taking too much time," Captain Reynolds says. "Initiate attack pattern Delta-12."

The USS Satellite moves closer to the Massal and makes an attack run over the Altonoid vessel. The highly maneuverable Satellite performs a nosedive and gives the Massal six quantum torpedoes to deal with. To make her attack even more effective, she bombards the shields of the Altonoid ship with phaser pulses. After that strafing run, the Satellite turns around and approaches the Massal from the aft, utilizing the time that maneuver takes to cool down the pulse cannons a little, only to let fly with them again once the maneuver is complete.

From the other side of the Massal, the remaining Federation ships unleash their weaponry. The USS Wolf fires two dozen photons at the Massal, both remaining sections of the Sundance fire full phasers at the Massal, and the USS Kennedy pushes her powerful, dorsal phaser arrays to the max.

That last assault seems to have a positive effect; the Massal finally stops firing. Now that there's some time to breathe, the USS Satellite gets back in formation alongside her Federation colleagues.

* * *

A medical team carries an unfortunate ensign away on the moderately damaged bridge of the USS Kennedy. Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman notices none of this, because he finds himself engrossed with the data his engineering station provides him. "The Massal's shields are down to sixty-five percent."

"That means they're still quite intact," Lt. Muntenaar says. "So why have they stopped firing?"

"Perhaps they have realized they are no match for four Federation vessels," Lt. Sivar says.

"Wait..." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says. "Their phaser system has gone all funny."

"Funny?" Lt. Sivar is about to ask the chief engineer to elaborate, but then something on the viewscreen catches the Vulcan's eye. The 'wires' on the Massal light up in a strange pattern. They seem to flash on and off, and streaks of light race through the phaser wires like fireflies through a straw.

"Perhaps we damaged them more than we thought," Lt. Malin guesses. The nervous look in her eyes betrays that she's not entirely convinced of what she's just said. When she looks to her right, she sees that Lieutenant Muntenaar isn't exactly comfortable with this sudden light show either.

"What is going on, Commander Soeteman?" Lt. Sivar asks.

The chief engineer presses a few buttons on his engineering station and looks puzzled. "I have no idea. Our sensors are having difficulties with this new technology."

Sivar replies only with a worried frown.

Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman gives his station another puzzled look. When his mind finally grasps what he is seeing, his eyes widen and his face turns pale. He looks up from his station and shouts at the top of his lungs, "Evasive maneuvers! Evasive ma—"

The streaks of light converge and explode into one massive phaser beam, hitting the Kennedy dead on. The impact is almost beyond description. The massive phaser beam sears right through the shields of the Kennedy as if they were offline. The lights on the bridge dim immediately, consoles explode, and everyone on board the ship gets knocked to the ground or into the nearest bulkhead.

Sivar gets tossed off his captain's chair and Lt. Muntenaar topples over his ops station. A console on the left blows up, flinging a nearby ensign across the bridge. Ensign Parkin gets chucked over his sparking tactical station and lands next to Soeteman, who has somehow managed to hold on to his station.

The right side of the bridge takes the most damage; the large wall display on the right is torn off the bulkhead along with two red alert pillars. One of those pillars crashes down and lands on the science ensign, who dies immediately. The collapsing remains of the nearby wall interface provide him with a quick burial.

Parts of the ceiling come down as well. One part crushes the executive officer's chair (which is fortunately empty) and the secondary tactical station behind it. The XO's console manages to escape most of the destruction, but it gets toppled over nevertheless.

Finally, the dreadful noises of scraping metal and exploding systems fade away. But it's not over just yet... Just when Ensign Parkin makes an attempt to stand up again, a loose part of the ceiling tears itself free and lands only inches away from his head. Stunned, Parkin holds still and waits for what might happen next, but the bridge has turned silent. It's over, for now.

Lt. Sivar has landed on the stations in front of the bridge and gets back on his feet. He overlooks the immense damage. And this is just the bridge... Many other sections of the ship must look this awful, or worse.

Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman wipes some blood from his forehead and accesses his console again. "Our shields are down... Engines are offline. We're drifting. The ship's a complete mess." He stands up slowly and sighs, "I'll go down to engineering and oversee the repairs."

* * *

Captain Duvivier witnessed the sight with pain in his heart. To see your ship getting battered while you are utterly helpless is every captain's worst nightmare. He practically has first-row seats to the whole battle outside because the conference room he's being held captive in provides a full view of the battle through the room's large window. The Kennedy looks scorched, and that Massal looks practically unstoppable. What he'd give right now to stand on the Kennedy's bridge. His place is on the ship, but instead he's stuck here, forced to watch the battle unfold without his influence.

Admiral Van Aken knows what the captain must be going through, since he's in the exact same messy situation. The Wolf hasn't suffered as much damage as the Kennedy yet, but there seems to be no defense against that upgraded Massal. Van Aken eyes Letor Fune, who grins at the present desperation. He must know exactly what they're feeling and he seems to be enjoying it immensely.

* * *

Two Altonoids get shot almost simultaneously and land on their backs. Captain Stephan Rinckes walks past them, carrying a heavy phaser rifle he snatched from a dead Starfleet officer earlier on. That handphaser he was carrying just wasn't good enough; Station A-12 is swarming with Altonoids.

His hopes of finding his beloved Commander Melanie Simons alive dwindle with every area he checks. She hadn't responded to his repeated attempts to contact her via their combadges. He checked the computer room where they split up and found no sign of her. Wherever he goes, he only finds Altonoids to kill or slain Starfleet officers. He can't even try to contact her again, because he has gotten rid of his combadge to avoid detection. If he ever wants to see her again, he'll have to keep looking.

He turns the corner and sees several dead Starfleet officers lying on the floor—a sight he's almost getting used to. A good many of them probably died before the captain even set foot on this station. Anyone below the rank of lieutenant commander had to be shot, he recalls. That's practically everyone... Unbelievable really, that while he and his colleagues were dining in the conference room, a tragedy was already taking place. The Altonoids really left nothing to chance.

As he rounds another corner, he encounters an Altonoid soldier who's standing there with his back turned toward the captain. With a quick headshot, Rinckes takes him down. The last thing he needs right now is for the Altonoids to signal his location.

Three dead Starfleet officers lie in the corridor in eerie silence. Rinckes slowly walks past them one by one. The first is an Andorian male who died clutching on to his medkit. The second is a human, male security officer who lies facedown with a horrid phaser wound on his back. The last of them is a human, female lieutenant wearing a command uniform. She's leaning against the bulkhead in a slumped position, her blonde hair covering her face. She looks just like Melanie.

An ice-cold sensation creeps around Rinckes' heart as he closes in on the dead body. A damaged phaser rifle lies next to her. Could that be the same rifle he had given to Melanie? There are two rank pips on the dead woman's collar. Melanie had tossed away the third one to distract an Altonoid earlier on. The Altonoids must've thought she was a lieutenant and shot her.

He wants to say something, but finds himself unable to utter even a syllable. Carefully, he moves the wisps of hair away from her face... It's not her. It's someone else. Rinckes sighs in relief and immediately feels guilty for doing so. Whoever this woman was, she didn't deserve to die like this. He releases her hair, leaving it to cover her face again, and stares at her for a few more seconds, before leaving the area with more determination than ever. He's got to find Melanie, no matter what.

* * *

Lt. Norbert Hoper, the strong, black chief of security of the USS Wolf, marches down the corridors with nine of his colleagues. Several of these groups of six to ten Starfleet officers search the station in order to find the hostage room shield array. "Well, if this deck 51 turns out to be nothing worthy of our interest, we'll continue to deck 52 and join Lieutenant Appels' team," Lt. Hoper says in his gruff voice.

From the other end of the corridor, three Starfleet officers come running toward Lt. Hoper's team. "Ambush!" one of the fleeing officers shouts just before an Altonoid phaser beam hits him in the back of his head.

Lt. Hoper and his team assume combat position and have to watch helplessly as the two remaining officers in front of them are shot by two beams that originate from an intersecting corridor.

Then there's silence, broken only by the beating of hearts and the shuffling of weapons. A few hour-long seconds pass. Suddenly, Hoper hears one of his officers screaming and he sees the officer landing on the floor next to him with a smoking phaser wound on his back.

"We've been set up!" Lt. Hoper shouts as he turns around and readies his rifle. He spots at least twelve Altonoids, who shoot two more members of his team in the blink of an eye.

The officer to his right—who has also turned around to face the dozen Altonoids—suddenly gets shot in the back. They're being attacked from both sides now!

* * *

Another joined team of eighteen Starfleet officers marches through a relatively open area on deck 51. A large group of Altonoids catches them dead in their tracks. The Altonoids open fire and one Starfleet officer gets shot after another.

Somewhere on deck 38, a Starfleet officer makes the mistake of climbing onto a container to give orders to his fellow officers. An eager Altonoid snipes him before the unfortunate officer can utter a word. Before the dead officer touches the ground, an oncoming wave of Altonoid attackers opens fire at the rest of the squad. One by one, the Starfleet officers fall to the floor with smoking phaser wounds all over their bodies.

Another united group of surviving Starfleet officers find themselves pinned down by an ever-growing group of Altonoids in a cargo bay on deck 46. They give up a good fight, but essentially they're all cannon fodder. There are just too many Altonoids...

* * *

Lt. Steven Appels, Cmdr. Tony Q, Dr. Rose van Oers, and their accompanying six security officers from the Kennedy are still busy searching deck 52, when all of a sudden they hear a thud. The group halts immediately and listens carefully. The armed members of the group sway their charged phaser rifles around, silently looking for a possible hostile contact.

With a loud clunk, a hatch on the bulkhead to the left of them opens. Tony Q is closest to it and points his rifle in a reflex at... Lt. Norbert Hoper. Hoper appears to be injured, and he doesn't look very cheery either. He exits the Jefferies tube and doesn't bother closing the hatch behind him. "Sorry if I startled you, kid," he says to Tony Q. He faces Lt. Appels. "We've got to move off this deck."

Dr. Van Oers opens her medkit and starts treating Lt. Hoper's wounds. There's a nasty gash on his chin, but the dermal regenerator does wonders in the capable doctor's hands.

The young Tony Q raises his expressive eyebrows. "And who are you to be giving us orders like this?"

Hoper continues his conversation with Appels. "The station is swarming with Altonoids, especially on decks 51 and up. They killed off my entire team before I could find a chance to escape. Those Jefferies tubes really can come in handy sometimes."

Doctor Van Oers doesn't appear to have listened to anything he's just said. She's only interested in getting her patient up and running again. "I managed to heal that gash on your chin, but it appears your elbow is bruised and your shins are chafed to the point of bleeding. If we can stay here a bit longer..."

"That can wait," Hoper replies curtly. "We have to get out of here while we still can."

"What if the shield array is on this deck?" Lt. Appels asks.

Lt. Hoper strokes his healed chin. "Small chance, according to our most recent scans. We can't stay here; the Altonoids can get here any second now. We've got to keep moving."

Lt. Appels is a bit reluctant, but he gives in nevertheless. "All right. Then we'll do that. You're the chief security officer of the USS Wolf, right?" Hoper gives him a brief nod. "So you must know what you're doing," Appels continues. "We'll use the Jefferies tubes to go down to...?"

"Deck 56. It should be safe enough to continue our search from there."

"Hello? Does anyone care to know what I think of this whole predicament?" Tony Q says. "I'm a commander. I outrank you both!"

Hoper sighs and gives Tony an impatient look. "So what do you say?"

Tony looks around briefly and draws his conclusions. "Let's get the bloody hell out of here!"

Without saying anything further, Lt. Hoper turns around to re-enter the Jefferies tube. The group of nine officers follow suit. They climb down two decks, but once they reach deck 54, they are forced to a stop. The hatch leading to deck 55 is blocked by something on the other side, so the group has no choice but to enter the hallway.

* * *

Four continuous phaser beams keep plaguing the already damaged Kennedy. Sometimes the USS Satellite, the Wolf, or both remaining sections of the Sundance manage to distract the Massal momentarily, but the Altonoid warship keeps setting its sights on further damaging the USS Kennedy.

At last, the Kennedy stops rotating. But now the most vulnerable section of the Kennedy is facing the Massal, namely, the section where the warp core is located: engineering.

With the bridge of the Kennedy now facing away from the Altonoids, the bridge crew is given some time to assess the extensive damage. Most of the lights have gone out, and large parts of the bulkheads have been smashed. The right side of the bridge has been shattered and has become completely unusable. Only half of the present LCARS panels work, and the bridge is shaking heavily. Lt. Sivar, Lt. Muntenaar, Lt. Malin, Ensign Parkin, and another ensign are the only ones present on the bridge—the only ones who are alive anyway.

Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman, having arrived in engineering, uses the comm system to give a detailed damage report. "Our shuttlebays took heavy damage. Our forward phaser arrays are fried. Our deflector dish has been severely damaged, just like our sensor system. Our shields are down to about four percent, there are hull breaches everywhere, and our structural integrity is down to a mere twenty-eight percent. Large parts of the crew are cut off from communication, so I can't be completely accurate."

"Why don't you tell us what actually does work?" Lieutenant Malin remarks.

"Well, I somehow managed to fix the thrusters, so we're no longer spinning."

"We have noticed that, Commander," Lt. Sivar says, while he sits calmly in his shuddering captain's chair. "However, we require more than that. It is unlikely we will hold out much longer under these circumstances."

* * *

Engineering is just as messy as the bridge. Fortunately, the warp core is still largely intact, but some of the nearby consoles, ladders, and wall panels are missing. Well, they're not exactly missing; they're just all over the place... Engineering is shaking heavily, as is the rest of the ship. Crew members swarm through the huge room in an attempt to repair the ship and help their wounded shipmates.

The tall, bald Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman stands next to the computer table in the center of engineering. Only a few years ago, André Soeteman gained the honorary rank of lieutenant commander after having provided the Federation with vital information on the Altonoids. Having been born an Altonoid, Soeteman didn't agree with the militaristic, barbaric way of life propagated by the Altonoid leaders. He's certainly not the only Altonoid who disagrees with their ways, but he's their only highly skilled engineer who has ever blatantly defected.

After having cut all ties with his past, even by going as far as subjecting himself to extensive plastic surgery in order to appear human, he has gained many friends among his new colleagues. His assignment as chief engineer of a Sovereign-class starship clearly shows he has gained everyone's trust. But now, as he attempts to get the forward torpedo launchers back on line, he can't help but shake his head at the irony of getting attacked by his former brothers with a revolutionary weapon system that's quite a technological feat.

He casts away the bleak thoughts and concentrates on the torpedo system. "Can't you bypass the secondary circuitry, Ensign Adler?" he asks the engineer across the table. "We need to get the photon launchers back online, at least." The four Altonoid phaser beams seem to be targeting the warp core now and engineering shakes even more violently. Soeteman almost loses his balance. "I wish they'd stop doing that. How am I supposed to work like this?"

"This is no time for a strike, Commander," Ensign Adler says.

Cmdr. Soeteman replies with a toothy smile that disappears quickly when he looks at the computer table. "Structural integrity down to twenty percent and falling!"

Suddenly, the rumbling and shaking stops completely. This surprises Soeteman so much that he doesn't notice the warp core is hissing and steaming excessively. "The Altonoids must've stopped firing for a moment," André Soeteman mumbles. "But for how long?" Then he notices that his fellow shipmates are staring at the warp core, and he abruptly looks over his shoulder. "This can't be good," he says when he sees the warp core emitting a copious amount of smoke.

While shoving a few ensigns out of the way, Soeteman runs over to the console closest to the warp core and accesses it. "Coolant leak!" he shouts as he views the data on the console. He thinks for a moment and sees no alternative. "We'll have to eject the core!" His raised voice can't hide a trace of disappointment.

The blue and red warp core's smoking and hissing increases drastically, and André hurriedly makes the necessary preparations for a warp core ejection. Once the preparations are complete, he presses a large red button and the hissing warp core slides down until it entirely disappears from view. In this case, the cold vacuum of space will cool the warp core down enough to prevent it from exploding, but it will also render it useless.

As Soeteman hangs his head and closes his eyes, he can sense the odd mixture of relief and increased anxiety from his colleagues around him. Without the warp core, their power reserves will drain much quicker and they won't be able to initiate warp drive. This is never a nice moment for any chief engineer.

* * *

On the damaged bridge of the Kennedy:

Lt. Sivar is eager to find out what the status is in engineering. He wouldn't describe himself as being impatient at the moment. No, he's merely... curious. "Acting captain to the chief engineer."

"Soeteman here."

"The Altonoids have stopped firing for a moment. The USS Wolf has managed to distract them," Lt. Sivar says. "It seems we have finally managed to better our circumstances. We have had a 'lucky break,' as humans would call it. What is your status?"

"I just ejected the warp core."

For the first time in his life, Sivar doesn't know what to say.

* * *

Captain Rinckes enters another corridor and immediately bumps into Commander Tony Q, who is accompanied by nine other officers. The sudden collision makes Tony Q jump half a mile into the air. After his heart starts beating again, Tony takes a few deep breaths and says, "Why do you all continuously persist in trying to scare me to a premature death just the instant I lose my powers?! I mean, just the fact that I'm probably still immortal doesn't mean you should test that out at every opportunity!"

"Hello, Tony... What brings you here?" Captain Rinckes asks calmly.

Tony Q lowers his shoulders and sighs deeply. "It's a long story."

"A story we don't need to hear right now," Lt. Hoper adds. "We should move on to deck 56."

"Decks 52 and 53 have already been overrun by Altonoids," Lt. Appels explains. "We are to continue our search for the hostage room shield array a few decks lower to increase our chances of survival... and success."

"Well, good luck," Captain Rinckes says as he attempts to move past the group.

Lt. Hoper blocks his path. "Where are you going? It would be wiser to come with us. We could use your help."

"I've lost my first officer. I've got to find her," Captain Rinckes replies.

"Haven't you tried to contact her? The combadges are operational again," Lt. Appels says.

Rinckes gives Lt. Appels a level stare. "She didn't respond, so I will have to find her."

Lt. Appels shakes his head. "This deck will soon be swarming with heavily armed Altonoids. It's not safe here anymore."

"Commander Simons should be perfectly capable of taking care of herself," Lt. Hoper adds. "So, Captain, please come with us."

The group of officers gives Captain Rinckes an inquiring look. Rinckes looks back at them and sighs before saying, "Good luck." He readies his phaser rifle, walks past the group, and disappears around the corner.

"It's always about a woman, isn't it?" Tony Q says to thin air.

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Wolf:

Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson was shocked to see the upgraded Massal demonstrate their massive phaser system's capabilities on the Kennedy. Luckily, the Wolf was able to distract the Massal, and now it has ceased firing altogether. Anderson's guess is that after such a heavy and prolonged attack, the Massal needs to take some time to cool down their weapons, a window of opportunity he doesn't want to miss. "Open hailing frequencies to all of our ships."

Lt. Stephanie Grant nods and presses a few buttons on her console.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Anderson to all ships. We need to finish off that Massal once and for all. Everybody, perform an alpha strike! Give 'em all we've got!"

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Kennedy:

"Are we able to comply with this order, Ensign Parkin?" Lt. Sivar asks.

"Weapons are still out, sir," Ensign Parkin replies, shaking his head.

"Then we have no choice but to watch our colleagues obey," Sivar concludes.

* * *

The Satellite, the Wolf, and both remaining sections of the Sundance gather around the crippled Kennedy and face the Massal. Well, if the Massal won't fire any of its weapons, the Federation ships will!

The USS Wolf fires a large quantity of photon torpedoes and phaser strikes, just before the USS Satellite sends out a short but extremely powerful series of phaser pulses and follows up with a dozen quantum torpedoes. The Sundance sections provide assistance by launching torpedoes and firing their impressive Type XII phaser arrays.

The Massal takes the phaser strikes and suffers moderate damage, but it repels most of the incoming torpedoes by simply shooting them all one by one before they have a chance of reaching the Altonoid vessel. Normally, this action could have triggered multiple powerful photonic shockwaves that would have endangered all nearby vessels. The Altonoids seem to get away with it this time, only adding to the mystery surrounding their new phaser system. After all the torpedoes have been detonated harmlessly in open space, the Massal goes completely silent again and sits there like a predator carefully calculating its next move.

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Wolf:

"That didn't have the desired effect," Ensign Daniels says timidly. "Their shields are down to thirty-five percent, but damage to their systems is minimal."

"Damn," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says without bothering to put any emotion in his voice, because he's too busy contemplating his next course of action. "When will our little fleet have their weapons available again?"

"The alpha strike took a great amount of power, sir," Lt. Stephanie Grant says. "We won't be able to fire for several minu—" She stops in the middle of her sentence as she sees the Massal coming back to life.

All the fleet's bridge officers see the Massal's wires light up in a familiar way. They seem to flash on and off, and streaks of light race through the wires like fireflies through a straw, once again.

* * *

Aboard the USS Kennedy:

"They're targeting us again, sir!" Ensign Parkin shouts.

"Evasive maneuvers," Lt. Sivar says calmly.

Lt. Malin fruitlessly types in commands into her helm station. "Engines are still not responding!"

"I'm no engineer," Lt. Muntenaar says as he turns around in his seat, "but I'd bet my bottom credit that we won't survive another hit like this."

* * *

Admiral Van Aken, Captain Duvivier, Cmdr. Jansen, and Cmdr. Levine observe it all from the conference room. Duvivier and Jansen can hardly believe they're about to lose their precious ship and the lives of their friends... Letor Fune smiles at their worry.

* * *

The bridge crew of the Kennedy looks at the mighty sight of the charging Massal. The erratic light coming from the phaser wires shines on their terrified faces. Lt. Sivar, however, looks as if it's any ordinary moment on any ordinary day. He has simply acknowledged the fact that they are all going to die soon. He presses a button on his armrest and says, "All hands, brace for impact."

Lt. Muntenaar closes his eyes in terror. From behind his closed eyelids he can vaguely see the Massal's phaser system growing brighter and brighter. With clenched teeth, he waits for the inevitable, fatal blow. Yet suddenly, the light emanating from the phaser wires disappears completely. Surprised, Sven Muntenaar opens his eyes and sees that the USS Satellite has maneuvered itself directly in the line of fire, eclipsing the sight of the Massal in the Kennedy's viewscreen.

* * *

The streaks of light converge and explode into one massive phaser beam, hitting the USS Satellite's bridge dead on. The shields of the Satellite, though quite intact before the impact, are completely nullified by the powerful Altonoid phaser beam.

The entire bridge of the USS Satellite goes dark, and large parts of the bridge are simply torn off. Captain Reynolds manages to hold on to her captain's chair, but she suddenly notices that a force is trying to pull her toward the ceiling. She can barely hold on to the left armrest as she flips upside down. It's as if the entire bridge has turned around! She can't breathe anymore, because the bridge's atmosphere is rushing out rapidly. When she looks down, she sees that a hull breach of at least three feet wide has formed in the scorched ceiling, and the emergency force fields are not responding.

Though Lt. Lynnson is able to hold on to his ops station, the ops station is unable to hold on to the bridge! Lynnson and his station get propelled toward the hull breach in the ceiling. The officer is small enough to go through that breach rather painlessly and enters open space, but his ops station is too big to fit through the hull breach without any trouble. With unremitting dexterity, the rushing air eats away at the ops station until it gets squeezed through the hull breach and disappears from view.

Some bridge officers manage to hold on to something, but most of them cannot because they were already flying around due to the impact. They are blown off the bridge and flung into space. Captain Reynolds still manages to hold on to her captain's chair, while a tornado of debris and rubble scratches her face and hands. She can't retain her grip on the armrest for much longer like this.

Then, finally, all the air has rushed out and a vacuum of darkness and silence engulfs the bridge.

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Wolf:

"Beam the survivors to our ship," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says firmly.

"But, sir," Lt. Grant protests. "Then we'll have to lower our shields. We'll be defenseless for several seconds. I understa—"

"Do it! Now!"

Lt. Grant hesitates for a moment and then decides that Leif Anderson is right. "Dropping shields." A twinge of guilt is audible in her voice. "Beaming the twenty-eight survivors to sickbay. Captain Reynolds is among them."

"Twenty-eight survivors?" Anderson says. "That's thirty-two dead..."

Lt. Grant bites her lower lip and shakes her head sadly. "The Massal will soon begin firing again, sir."

"Status of our weapons?"

"Still inoperative."

"Then we'll need to find a way to stall them," Cmdr. Anderson replies, and he thinks for a moment. "Of course! Perform the Bywaard Maneuver!"

* * *

In the conference room of the station:

"It seems your precious ship hasn't been destroyed yet," Letor Fune says. "I am touched by the sacrifice of the USS Satellite. You must be glad you brought her along, aren't you?" He smiles at Admiral Van Aken, who doesn't dignify that sardonic remark with a response.

Fune's smile disappears as quickly as it appeared. "Of course it's only a matter of time. I expect a reply from your leaders soon. But just to let you in on a little secret..." Fune threateningly leans over to the admiral, "...we're not interested in a diplomatic solution."

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Wolf:

Lt. Commander Anderson is relieved to have finally found a way to do some real damage to that Massal ship. "Tractor the remains of the Satellite and shove it up the Massal's throat," he says with a determined grimace on his face.

"That's one way of putting it," Lt. Grant says with a smile.

"Well, that basically is the Bywaard Maneuver," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says.

"I know what the Bywaard Maneuver is, sir. Don't worry."

The USS Wolf approaches the remains of the Defiant-class ship. The defeated Satellite still appears to be mostly intact, but its structural integrity is negligible and its hull has been breached in several key areas. The Wolf engages a tractor beam and pushes the Satellite into the direction of the Massal.

"Override what's left of the Satellite's computer system and set her engines to overload," Anderson says. "That should give the Altonoids what they bargained for." On the viewscreen they can see the hulk of the Satellite being pushed ahead by a blue tractor beam.

Suddenly, something uncloaks between the Satellite and the Massal. The members of the bridge crew see it, but none of them actually believes their eyes. It's another upgraded Massal ship! It loads its identical phaser array and destroys the remains of the Satellite with a single four-beamed phaser strike! To make matters worse, the new Massal is on a direct collision course with the USS Wolf.

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson jumps up from his seat. "Evasive maneuvers! Now!"


	4. Chapter 4

Only moments ago, a second heavily upgraded Massal-class warship uncloaked in front of the USS Wolf, just when the Wolf attempted to make a run for the first Massal. This second Massal is on a direct collision course with the Wolf, and the enormous Altonoid warship looks as if it will not even flinch at the prospect of a head-on collision. The truth is that, although the impact may damage the Massal, the Wolf cannot possibly survive such a crash.

Without waiting for the order, Lieutenant Stephanie Grant makes the Wolf perform an extremely tight evasive maneuver in a desperate attempt to avoid the Massal. The Wolf pulls up, makes a vertical U-turn, barely misses the oncoming Massal, and flies back to the Federation fleet with the Massal hot on its trail.

Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson stands in the center of the bridge. Normally, he's the ship's chief tactical officer, but now that Admiral Van Aken and Commander Levine are being held hostage on the station, Anderson is in command of the Wolf. Luckily for its crew, Anderson is a capable leader who exudes confidence. "Aft view on," he says while he quickly runs a hand through his short, black hair. The image of the immense Altonoid ship closing in fills the viewscreen.

"They're very close, sir," Science Officer Ensign Mick Daniels says.

"Thanks, Ensign. I've noticed..."

"The Massal is powering up their phaser array!" Ensign Daniels shouts.

"And our weapons are still offline, sir," Lt. Grant adds.

"We'll just have to take the brunt of it then," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says firmly, and he sits down in his captain's chair and holds on tight.

The front phaser wires on the Massal flood the bridge with bright light. Four strong phaser beams impact on the aft shields of the USS Wolf in a short but powerful burst. That seems to be the end of the attack for now because the Massal stops firing and comes to a complete halt. The first Massal has already fallen back and is no doubt busy with repairs.

"I'm reducing speed," Lt. Grant says after having wiped some sweat from her forehead.

"That wasn't so bad. Return to normal view," Anderson says. He leans back in his chair and looks at the viewscreen, which now displays the rest of the Federation fleet. Something's off, though. It seems like his ship is slightly tilting down, into the direction of the USS Kennedy. Leif Anderson can't help but move his head up a bit, as if that would help to correct the tilting. Finally, he says something. "Is it just me or are we tilting down?"

"I'll correct it, sir," Lt. Grant says. She taps in a few commands. Nothing happens. "Helm control is not responding!" With wide-open eyes, she turns around to face her commanding officer. "Something must've snapped!"

* * *

Even though the Sovereign-class USS Kennedy is one of Starfleet's toughest ships, it has taken a lot of damage trying to deal with the first Massal. The arrival of a second upgraded Altonoid ship doesn't bode well for the crew of the Kennedy. The bridge is already severely damaged and the ship's structural integrity is dangling by a thread. They'll have to rely on the Sundance and the Wolf to keep them safe for now.

The Wolf is heading straight for them, but that doesn't worry the bridge crew yet. Chief of Operations Lt. Sven Muntenaar reports, "The USS Wolf seems to be drifting toward us at moderate speed."

Lt. Sivar nods. The Vulcan science officer was left in charge of the Kennedy when Captain Duvivier and Commander Jansen boarded Station A-12. "Relay a message to them. They should alter their course in order to avoid a collision, because we are unable to maneuver at this time."

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Wolf:

Lt. Grant's console emits a series of bleeps. "We've received a message from the Kennedy. We are to adjust our course... No kidding..." She faces her commanding officer again. "That last hit from the Altonoids must've knocked helm control offline. That's why they've stopped firing. They're going to sit back and watch us crash. Well, not on my watch! I'm getting control back one way or the other!" And with that, she crouches down and tears off the panel that protects the helm console's internals.

Anderson has managed to stay relatively calm until now, but smashing into a friendly starship will not be very helpful in this already lopsided battle.

"I could use some help," Lt. Grant says. Lt. Cmdr. Anderson immediately bounces up from his chair and hurries over to the console. He pushes Lt. Grant aside and starts fiddling with the console's circuitry. Grant wants to comment on being pushed away like this, but frankly, all that matters right now is getting helm control back.

* * *

On the Kennedy:

The bridge crew watches the USS Wolf close in on them. Chief Helmsman Lt. Malin gives Lt. Muntenaar a worried glance. "Why aren't they listening to us?"

Lt. Muntenaar replies with a quick, nervous shrug and concentrates on his ops console. "Eight kilometers and closing."

Lt. Sivar presses a button on his armrest and says, "Acting Captain Sivar to engineering. We need our impulse engines back online as soon as possible, Commander."

"That won't be possible just yet. I might be able to fix them within a few minutes," they hear Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman reply. "I did manage to bring the photon torpedo tubes back online."

Lt. Sivar sees the USS Wolf growing larger and larger on the viewscreen. "Thank you, Commander. That is of great help to our current situation." His voice contains an unusual amount of sarcasm for a Vulcan.

"Six kilometers and closing," Lt. Muntenaar reports.

"Take evasive action, Ms. Malin. Z minus 1000 meters," Lt. Sivar orders.

The Kennedy fires its dorsal thrusters, and the ship starts a slow descent.

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Wolf:

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson is still struggling to get helm control back online, as they're approaching the Kennedy steadily. The rest of the bridge crew can only sit by and watch with an understandable degree of anxiety.

"Fixed!" Cmdr. Anderson shouts and he reattaches the panel. He jumps up to look at the viewscreen, which shows that the Wolf is still maneuvering toward the USS Kennedy. The Kennedy has started a slow descent, but they're not moving out of the way quickly enough. Lt. Cmdr. Anderson presses several buttons on the helm console he believes to have fixed, while the crew witnesses it all in concern.

A brief pause. The image of the USS Kennedy is about to fill up the entire viewscreen.

"Not fixed yet!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts. He opens the panel and tries again.

* * *

Aboard the Kennedy:

The young, tall Ensign Parkin has never felt this helpless in his life, even though he's standing behind the tactical station of one of the most powerful ships in the fleet. He has been waiting anxiously for the weapons to be repaired and finally he has a good number of photon torpedoes at his disposal. He's ready to fight the Altonoids again, but there's no defense against a friendly ship that's on a deadly collision course.

"Seventeen seconds to impact!" Lt. Muntenaar shouts. The little wrinkles around his eyes that normally add to his smile now only accentuate his nervousness. "Their current trajectory sends them straight at our warp nacelles!"

"Increase power to thrusters," Lt. Sivar says, calm as ever.

The Kennedy is still moving down on thrusters only, but the USS Wolf will collide with their nacelles within seconds nevertheless. The Wolf is already about to fly over the Kennedy's saucer section!

"All hands, brace for impact!" Lt. Muntenaar shouts over the comm system.

"Perhaps that will not be necessary," Lt. Sivar says. "Decompress all shuttlebays."

"What?" Lt. Muntenaar replies.

"Now, Lieutenant," Lt. Sivar says with urgency in his voice. After a brief moment, Muntenaar understands what Sivar is trying to accomplish and he complies with a subtle grimace.

The doors of the severely damaged shuttlebays open right when the USS Wolf is about to fly over them. Air and debris get shoved out of the smashed shuttlebays located in the neck and tail of the Kennedy. The debris causes the shields of the Wolf to emit a blue glow, while the air displacement pushes the Wolf away from the Kennedy. The effect is marginal, but enough to make it barely miss the Kennedy.

* * *

"That was close," Lt. Grant says to Lt. Cmdr. Anderson, who's still attempting to fix the helm. She'd really like to get helm control back. What good is it being an accomplished pilot when you can't even get to steer the damn ship?

"Fixed it!" Anderson says as he jumps up.

Stephanie Grant raises an eyebrow. "You sure this time?"

Cmdr. Anderson nods and hurries back to the captain's chair. Lieutenant Grant quickly seats herself at the helm and presses a few buttons on the fixed console. Then she sees that the previous command of pulling up drastically is still imprinted in the console's computer, and the ship is about to obey that command!

The USS Wolf pulls up fast and threatens to get stuck in an infinite inside loop. After some dire effort, Lt. Grant manages to command the ship to cease pulling up, and now the ship is travelling in the opposite direction—albeit upside down—with the Kennedy once again directly ahead.

* * *

The bridge crew of the USS Kennedy sees the USS Wolf closing in once again. "This is getting tedious," Lt. Malin deadpans.

Lt. Muntenaar is at a loss for words. All he can do is watch as the Wolf moves relentlessly toward the helpless Kennedy.

The USS Wolf rolls 90 degrees to the left in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a seemingly unavoidable collision. Malin and Muntenaar instinctively close their eyes and cower down in an instinctive but futile reaction. Everybody holds on tight and waits for the imminent crash, but nothing happens. Lt. Grant's last-minute maneuver is successful and the Wolf misses the Kennedy with mere inches to spare.

* * *

Everyone in the conference room of Station A-12 witnessed the whole ordeal, and Captain Duvivier looks quite flabbergasted. Admiral Van Aken sees Captain Duvivier's reaction and says dryly, "Woman at the helm..."

Duvivier shakes his head at that remark.

"You know," Letor Fune says, standing only a few feet away from the four captured flag officers. "I must admit that I find your subordinates highly amusing."

The Altonoid with the bandage on his hand enters the conference room and reports to Letor Fune. "We are taking section by section of this petty station." Letor Fune smirks mischievously and keeps listening. "We've killed or wounded many Starfleet officers, but they are still fighting with great motivation."

"Spirit will get them nowhere..." Letor Fune says. "And that starship battle will not be won by them either." Fune turns to the captured officers. "Did you realize that the first four Altonoid vessels you fought and destroyed so easily were automated vessels? Those four vessels carried me and my troops to this station and were in fact completely empty when the battle commenced. They were merely running on a rudimentary AI program, assessed your defenses, and paved the way for the two prototype vessels to inflict some serious damage."

The four Starfleet officers are shocked to hear this and they make no effort to hide their astonishment. Letor Fune notices their mouths are hanging open. He addresses the other Altonoids in the room when he says, mockingly, "Look at those 'officers.'" Fune points at the four shocked flag officers. "They actually think they can win this station back. Oh, how they underestimate us... They would give up all hope if they knew what was coming. So that leaves them with what? False hope."

"I'd take false hope over despair any day," Cmdr. Levine replies as he sticks his chin up. "If there's anything you should know about us, it's that we don't give up easily." Admiral Van Aken supports his first officer's words with a daring smile directed at Letor Fune, who doesn't respond to this subtle provocation.

* * *

Crawling through maintenance tubes is a good way of travelling undetected on a station that's swarming with hostile forces. That's exactly why Captain Rinckes is making his way through one of Station A-12's countless Jefferies tubes. He should be helping the many Starfleet troops in their effort to release the hostages and retake the station, but that will have to wait until he has found his first officer Commander Melanie Simons. It's been a while since he has last seen her. In fact, it's been a while since he has last seen any living Starfleet officer.

He has reached the end of this Jefferies tube and he emerges in what appears to be a small maintenance chamber. A nearby console displays the schematics of the immediate surroundings. When Captain Rinckes checks it out, he quickly learns two things: this area contains an important central intersection where seven corridors meet, and it is absolutely swarming with Altonoids. There's no quick way around it; he'll have to cross the hub of intersecting corridors somehow.

When he looks over his shoulder, he sees the one door leading to the nearest corridor. If he'd go through it and take a right, he'd have to travel over 100 feet to cross the intersection and get to a quieter area of the station. Even if he'd step out with guns blazing and make a desperate dash for the other side, he'd be killed within five seconds tops. He'll have to come up with a plan because he has simply come too far to give up now. He thinks for a brief moment while he looks at the console. Then it hits him. The plan is risky, but it'll have to do.

With a few commands, he shuts down the entire lighting system for this area. Within a few seconds, he can hear the nearby Altonoids raising their voices and walking by faster. Quickly, Rinckes kills the lights in the maintenance room too. He literally can't see anything while he stumbles for the door with his phaser rifle pressed firmly against his torso. He takes a deep breath and walks through the opening door...

...and enters a pitch-dark corridor that's filled with armed Altonoids that rush by in both directions. It's not as if he has any choice, but Rinckes follows the line of Altonoids that's headed for the intersection. There's a lot of tugging and pushing and at any moment one of the Altonoids could notice that there's an imposter among them, that there's someone wearing a Starfleet uniform and carrying a Starfleet issue weapon. They can't possibly see him, because even the emergency lights, wall displays, and blinking red-alert panels in this area have been taken offline—he made sure of that. However, all it takes is one very perceptive Altonoid and Rinckes is a dead man. It's as simple as that.

As he nears the intersection, the line he's in slows down and comes to a halt. Rinckes is glad that most Altonoids are shouting and speaking loudly; otherwise someone might notice his rapidly increasing heartbeat. The many Altonoids in the crowded corridors make the air heavy and Rinckes is starting to feel a bit dizzy. His palms are getting sweaty and that decreases the grip he has on his weapon. If he'd accidentally drop his rifle... He doesn't want to think about what would happen.

Suddenly, the lights start to come back on! Rinckes' throat goes dry as he freezes in place. Only a split-second later, the lights go down again. The failsafe program he embedded in that console appears to have worked. Rinckes holds perfectly still, expecting to be revealed and killed at any moment. A few more seconds pass and the queue starts moving again. Nobody noticed... Writing off his anxiety as a useless distraction, he follows the Altonoids in what can only be described as the most unpleasant conga line he's ever been part of...

When he's about to cross the intersection, he notices that some of the Altonoids have found and activated a few flashlights. Random beams of light shine through the many corridors, grazing the shadows and illuminating bits and pieces of the intersection. Rinckes makes himself as small as possible. He'll have to rely on the tall Altonoids around him to keep him from being noticed. Slowly, he crosses the intersection and passes the random beams of light undetected.

Just when he wants to sigh in relief, he accidentally activates the flashlight on his phaser rifle. A fountain of light shines in his face. Immediately, Rinckes rips off the flashlight and points it at the ceiling. Its independent battery kicks in and enables the flashlight to shine a bright spot of light at the ceiling. There's no doubt about it, he has attracted the attention of the Altonoids around him. They all stop and stare at the shadowy figure who's pointing a flashlight in the air.

Sweat streams down Rinckes' face and he has to swallow a giant lump in his throat before exclaiming, "Look guys! I've found a flashlight!" He turns around and throws the flashlight at the intersection. Once again, he makes himself as small as possible and follows the queue in the darkness. If anyone recognized him, he's dead. His fate will be decided within the few next seconds. All it takes is for one Altonoid to speak up... A few excruciating seconds pass. Then, the inevitable happens. An Altonoid from near the intersection shouts, "Hey!"

Rinckes' heartbeat flies past the 200 beats per minute mark. This is it. He's done for.

"Thanks for the flashlight!" the Altonoid shouts.

Rinckes draws a deep breath and resists the urge to reply "You're welcome." Adrenaline causes his legs to shake, but he'll have to keep walking. He follows the queue as they round a corner, and the group of Altonoids slowly disperse into various directions. Rinckes stumbles along on autopilot until he rounds another corner. According to the schematics, there should be another maintenance room just after the bend and he searches for its door with his right hand while clasping on to his phaser rifle with his left hand. He glides his hand across the bulkhead, but there's no door. He retraces his steps and collides with an Altonoid, who apologizes and walks on. Once again, Rinckes' heart feels like it's about to burst out of his chest. If he doesn't find that door before the lights are switched on again... He keeps searching for the one door that will lead him to safety, but he simply cannot find it. He must have misread the schematics somehow.

Just when Rinckes is about to surrender to his fate, the door to the maintenance room opens right in front of him, stunning him for a moment. Then, he carefully enters the maintenance chamber. As the door closes behind him, he knows he's safe at last.

Suddenly, the lights come on and reveal an Altonoid who's standing right in front of him. The Altonoid is occupied with the maintenance room's console and has his back turned toward Rinckes. In a reflex, the captain aims his rifle at the Altonoid.

"Relax," the Altonoid grumbles, without looking up. "I finally got the lights working again."

Rinckes keeps the phaser rifle pointed at the Altonoid, ready to shoot him down at the slightest provocation.

"I haven't yet been able to get all the lights in this area online, but I'm working on it." The Altonoid reaches for his pocket. Rinckes' finger tightens around the trigger, but the Altonoid simply pulls out a flashlight and tosses it over his shoulder. "Here, take the flashlight. I yanked it off a Starfleet phaser rifle. Plenty of those lying around... We can't attach these flashlights to our weapons without resorting to adhesives, but they're still useful."

Rinckes attaches the flashlight to his phaser rifle with one simple click. "Thanks."

Shocked, the Altonoid turns around slowly. "H-h-how did you get here?"

Rinckes shrugs. "On foot."

The Altonoid tilts his head a little to the side. "It was you. You sabotaged the lights."

Rinckes takes an unsteady step closer to the Altonoid, making him cringe back against the console. The captain presses the muzzle of the rifle against the Altonoid's forehead and makes no effort to hide the tiredness in his voice when he says, "Have you seen a blonde, female officer in a command uniform around here?"

"No. I don't know what you're talking about. Please, don't hurt me. I'll tell you everything I know, but I don't know anything about a female officer. You've got to believe me."

Rinckes is about to back off, but then he notices that the Altonoid is reaching for a weapon. Just when the Altonoid grabs the phaser from his belt, Captain Rinckes shoots him from point-blank range. The dead Altonoid slumps back against the console like a ragdoll.

After pushing the dead Altonoid aside, Rinckes quickly seals off the door to this room and restores power to the lighting system. He has made it this far, but he's not ready for celebrations just yet. Only now does he notice the toll all this stress is taking on him. His hands are sweaty and shaking, his stomach and chest hurt like crazy and the sudden increase in dizziness is debilitating. He removes the droplets of sweat that sting his narrow eyes and sits down for a moment, next to the Altonoid's motionless corpse. After a deep sigh, Rinckes collects his strength, crawls into the nearby Jefferies tube, and continues his search for Commander Simons.

* * *

Lieutenant Norbert Hoper, chief of security of the USS Wolf, leans back against a bulkhead in a quiet corridor on Station A-12. He, Commander Tony Q, Doctor Rose van Oers, Lieutenant Steven Appels, and six accompanying security officers have found a relatively quiet area where they can catch their breath. However, the strong, black, narrow-faced Lieutenant Hoper doesn't like to just stand there and wait, so he decides to check in on the other security squads. "Lieutenant Hoper to squad 4-A. Report in."

"Odell checking in. Still no luck," they hear. "We'll inform you once the situation changes."

"Lieutenant Hoper to squad 4-B. Report in."

"Lohmann checking in. This is not a good time. We're pinned down in computer room 4."

"Lieutenant Hoper to squad 4-C. Report in."

"Hasder checking in. We're—Oh damn! More of them!" followed by a lot of phaser fire and screaming.

"This is Lt. Hoper to squad 4-D. Report in?"

Silence.

"This is Lt. Hoper to squad 4-Delta. Please respond!"

Nothing.

"This is Lt. Hoper to sq—"

"Perhaps it would be better if you'd stop asking your squads for a report," the young Commander Tony Q says. Hoper responds with a scowl, but Tony continues nevertheless. "It doesn't seem to be very helpful or morale boosting."

Lt. Hoper's scowl fades. Tony has a point there. They have been running around for a while now, trying to find the hostage room shield array, but all they've found so far are trigger-happy Altonoids and dead Starfleet officers.

"Lieutenant Appels," one of the security officers says. He's holding a tricorder that's pointed at the nearest door.

"What is it, Ensign Lucas?" the short, muscular Steven Appels asks.

"The next room is perfectly suitable for housing a small shield array. I think we should investigate it, sir." The tall Latino ensign rarely speaks up, but when he does, he usually has something useful to say.

Dr. Van Oers points her medical tricorder at the door. "I'm reading no life signs in that room."

"All right. Lead the way, Mr. Lucas," Lt. Appels says.

Ensign Lucas opens the door to a rectangular storage room that's about as big as the conference room, albeit with a much higher ceiling. Several kinds of engineering equipment lie stacked in many crates. The room—which is surprisingly dark by Federation standards—contains lots of places to hide a small shield array.

The group enters the room and they start searching the place. "This is nice," Commander Tony Q says as he looks around. "So where do you suppose they're hiding that shield generator?"

They all wander through the room carefully, in search for anything that might lead them to the shield array. Lieutenant Clayton—with forty-one years of age the oldest security officer in this group—takes a closer look at the door they all passed through. "The lock on this door is malfunctioning. We won't be going back this way," he says, slightly alarmed.

"And it's a bit too quiet here for my taste..." Lt. Appels says.

"Relax. My tricorder reads nothing," Dr. Van Oers says. She frowns. "Absolutely nothing at all. It's not even registering the nearby crates."

"Then there must be a dampening field in place," Tony Q says calmly. Suddenly, he realizes what he has just said.

The gruff, seasoned Lieutenant Hoper charges his rifle. "I knew it... It's an ambush!"

All officers ready their phaser rifles—all but the unarmed doctor. "The tricorder still reads nothing," she says. While she's talking, Tony Q spots an Altonoid who's partially hidden by a crate behind the doctor. The Altonoid is pointing his phaser rifle at her!

"Look out!" Tony Q shouts and he quickly aims his rifle and shoots the Altonoid. Before that Altonoid hits the ground, several more Altonoids jump out from nowhere and start attacking the Starfleet officers.

One unlucky ensign gets hit by a phaser beam and gets thrown into the air, only to land on the ground with a gaping, cauterized hole in his chest. Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels skillfully mow down a good number of Altonoids. The two are very experienced and capable security officers, and an ambush like this gives them the chance to put their skills to the test. However, they can't prevent the death of another member of their security force.

Another Altonoid emerges from behind a crate and knocks dead an unsuspecting security officer with a mighty swing of his rifle. The Altonoid has no time to gloat, because the nearby Lt. Clayton shoots him immediately.

Another Altonoid and Ensign Lucas have been fighting hand to hand for a while, with their dropped phaser rifles lying out of reach. Ensign Lucas manages to give the Altonoid some good punches and finishes the job with one great strike to the jaw. The Altonoid lands on his back and goes silent.

One of the remaining two Altonoids aims for Lt. Hoper, but Hoper is quicker on the trigger. The last Altonoid is shot by the young, brown-haired Ensign Emily Murphy, who hits the Altonoid with her rifle first, only to shoot him down moments later while the Altonoid is still disoriented by the blow.

Doctor Van Oers rushes over to the nearest hit ensign and reaches for his neck as she crouches down. Lt. Appels gives her an inquiring look. Just when the doctor wants to shake her head and pronounce the ensign dead, practically the entire bulkhead across the room starts to open slowly. It turns out to be one massive door that leads to another similar room, a room that's crowded with armed Altonoids who eagerly point their rifles at the remaining Starfleet officers. Luckily, there are a significant number of crates lined up in the room the officers are standing in. It's not an ideal buffer, but it will have to do because the Altonoids open fire immediately.

"Get to cover!" Lt. Appels shouts while he lunges for one of the crates.

They run for cover, but Lt. Clayton doesn't make it in time and a barrage of enemy phaser fire ends his life in the blink of an eye.

The six remaining officers hide behind four groups of two crates. There are many, many Altonoids standing on different levels in the other large room. They aim their rifles carefully and attempt to snipe all present Starfleet officers.

Ensign Murphy hides with her back to one of the crates, ready to take down an Altonoid whenever she can. She collects all her courage and turns around to face the Altonoids, utilizing a gap between the two crates to shoot back.

Lt. Appels and Lt. Hoper are hiding behind the next pair of crates. They return fire now and then, but there is just too much enemy fire.

The third pair of crates protects Tony Q and Dr. Van Oers. Tony Q returns fire frequently, but Dr. Van Oers is unarmed and attempts to make herself as small as possible while she can hear the deafening sounds of buckling metal and phaser fire around her.

Ensign Lucas is hiding behind the last group of crates.

There are so many Altonoids that it's difficult for the officers to find a relatively safe moment to return fire. The noise of continuous phaser fire is incredible but pales in comparison with the utter direness of the situation. There seems to be no way out.

Lt. Hoper glances around the corner. He turns to face Lt. Appels, who's checking the settings on his phaser rifle. "I can't even count them," Lt. Hoper says.

"Isn't that the definition of being outnumbered?" Lt. Appels responds.

One of the crates Ensign Murphy is hiding behind can't take the beating anymore and blows up. Debris gets hurled away and some of it hits Ensign Murphy in the head, knocking her over. The remains of the crate and its contents bury her immediately. With her out of the way, the Altonoids focus their efforts on the other five Starfleet officers.

"We ought to surrender," Lt. Appels sighs. Lt. Hoper gazes ahead, thinking about possible solutions. However, the noise of a nearby buckling crate distracts him. When he gauges where the noise is coming from, he sees that Dr. Van Oers is in serious danger.

Tony Q notices the crate next to him is about to explode in the doctor's face! A group of Altonoids notices it too and concentrates their fire on that crate. Rose van Oers is in urgent need of help! Tony thinks for a split-second and then pulls Dr. Van Oers behind his own crate. Now the only hiding place left for him is the buckling crate. Quickly, he crouches down behind it.

The crate can't take all the phaser fire anymore and gets torn apart in a final explosion. Tony manages to evade most of the debris and gets up. He aims his rifle carefully and shoots down a couple of Altonoids.

"Get down!" Lt. Hoper shouts at the top of his lungs.

"Don't worry!" Tony Q shouts back while he dodges the incoming phaser fire. "The Continuum won't let anything h—" Tony can't finish his sentence. A phaser beam hits him right above his right hip. Tony lets go off his rifle and literally gets knocked sideways. His hands grasp nothing but air as he twists a full circle while descending to the ground, only to land on his back and be silent... There's a look of incomprehension on his face and his uniform is scorched above his right hip, revealing a smoldering phaser wound.

"Tony!" Dr. Van Oers shouts. She tries to reach him (he's only a meter away) but the Altonoids block her with phaser fire. Luckily, the other Starfleet officers open fire simultaneously. This diverts the Altonoids' attention, enabling Rose to pull Tony to safety. But for how long? The crate hardly provides enough cover for the two of them and it isn't going to hold forever.

"Tony! Can you hear me?!" Dr. Van Oers shouts. There's no response.

The Altonoids show no intention of ceasing their onslaught and Ensign Lucas, Lt. Hoper, and Lt. Appels are the only Starfleet officers who can return fire at the moment. The situation looks very, very grim...

At this point, Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels appear to be attracting the heaviest fire. A phaser beam flies through the gap between the two crates they're hiding behind and Lieutenant Appels can barely avoid it by ducking away. Norbert Hoper looks back at Appels and says, "We won't make it like this..." His low, growling voice forms a great contrast with the enormous sounds of phaser fire and destruction. Appels gives him a quick nod. "The Altonoids must've had trouble opening that big door," Hoper continues, "or they would've opened it sooner. Anyhow, it must be closed again."

Appels frowns. "Too risky. We better stay put, or find a way out."

"Wake up, Lieutenant. There is no quick way out. If we don't get that door closed... we'll all die here."

Appels remains silent and stares at the buckling crate in front of him.

Hoper presses his combadge. "Lieutenant Hoper to Ensign Lucas. We need a diversion. Understood?" A few crates away, past the doctor and the fallen Tony Q, they see Ensign Lucas replying with a nod. Lucas moves up and opens fire at the Altonoids.

The Altonoids concentrate their fire on Ensign Lucas, forcing him into hiding again. But as soon as the firing mellows a bit, the valiant ensign reappears and shoots back.

Hoper suddenly moves to the side of his crate and mouths, "Cover me!" He leaves cover and runs toward the left side of the room. Lt. Appels leaves his cover too and starts shooting Altonoids before they can start shooting back.

Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels reach a small LCARS display to the left of the large doorway. The narrow left bulkhead that separates the rooms protects the two security officers by keeping them both out of visual range. That is, until armed Altonoids start peeking around the doorway; then they'll have no place to hide.

Lt. Hoper tries to close the big door, but to no avail. "I'm locked out, dammit!" When he turns to face Lt. Appels, he sees Ensign Lucas' crate getting blown up by Altonoid phaser fire. This leaves Ensign Lucas very vulnerable.

"There's another door control on the other side of this bulkhead," Hoper says.

"But that room is swarming with Altonoids," Appels replies.

With a determined look on his face, Lt. Hoper raises his phaser rifle and walks past his colleague. He calmly enters the enormous doorway, lifts his rifle, and kills several Altonoids in cold blood. Lt. Appels understands the plan and follows the other brave lieutenant into the Altonoid room. Ensign Lucas has hidden behind the crate Lt. Hoper used for cover and provides much-needed distraction.

Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels dodge incoming fire and are happy to return the favor. The two officers manage to reach the LCARS display and Hoper accesses it. Luckily, a nearby stack of equipment blocks most of the Altonoids from getting a clear shot at them. Hoper smiles when he sees that this door control is functioning as it should. He types in an encryption code and presses a big red button on the LCARS display.

The big door starts coming down. Hoper quickly moves toward the slowly closing door and gestures Lt. Appels to do the same. While they exit the Altonoid room and re-enter the room where Ensign Lucas, Dr. Van Oers, and the shot Tony Q are in, they fail to notice that the Altonoids have stopped firing.

"That was a close call," Lt. Appels says while he smiles in relief. Lt. Hoper gives Appels a friendly pat on the shoulder. At that exact moment, the door halts, and moves up again...

Dr. Van Oers looks up for a moment and sees that the door is opening again. "That can't be good," she remarks.

"It seems the Altonoids are smarter than we thought," Lt. Appels says wryly. "We must really lock them in this time."

Lt. Hoper nods briefly. "We must seal all doors to their room, get a better encryption code on the door control, and close off all communication systems."

"Agreed," Appels says. The two officers ready their rifles and re-enter the Altonoid room, only to meet with heavy resistance. They return fire and run for the LCARS display once again. Lt. Hoper accesses the LCARS display, while Appels tries to keep the Altonoids at bay. Ensign Lucas' backup is also much appreciated; it draws away a great portion of enemy fire. A good number of Altonoids have already perished, but clunking footsteps betray that more Altonoids are on the way. The two valiant Starfleet officers are living on borrowed time.

"First the door must be closed. Only then can the Altonoids be permanently locked in," Hoper says.

Lt. Appels remains silent for a short while and then says with a sigh, "I did assume this was a one way trip."

"What do you mean?" Hoper responds. "I'll do it. I'll stay here. You get back to the others." The clunking footsteps in the background are getting louder and louder.

"No way. Our success is very important," Appels responds. An Altonoid appears from behind the stack of equipment. Appels shoots him immediately. "If we fail, we're all done for."

Lt. Hoper presses the big red button and the door starts to close again. "Go! That's an order! The others need you. We can't let an ensign lead the security team."

"I'm staying here to provide backup. Ensign Marc Lucas is a very capable officer. And you can't order me around; we have the same rank, Lieutenant!" With that, Lt. Appels turns to face Lt. Hoper.

Getting punched in the face was the last thing Appels expected. He can barely remain standing after that mighty blow, while Lt. Hoper shakes off the pain in his right fist and pushes the unsteady Appels toward the closing door. Before the dazed Lieutenant Appels can even think about resisting, Hoper has already pushed him into the other room.

Once Lt. Hoper releases his grasp, Lt. Appels immediately turns around. The eyes of both security officers meet one last time before the closing door blocks their view of each other. Appels won't soon forget that determined though saddened look on Hoper's face. Before the door has closed completely, Hoper turns around and runs for the LCARS display.

The large door closes with a final, loud thump. Lt. Appels stares at the closed door and doesn't move a muscle. He frankly doesn't know what to do or say... Then, he hears a large clunk, as if the door is being locked. He can hear muffled shouting and increasing phaser fire.

After a handful of seconds that seem like an eternity, the phaser fire stops.

The big door doesn't open.

Ensign Lucas walks over to Lieutenant Appels, who's still staring at the door. "What the hell happened?"

"Bravery," Lt. Appels says. Then he awakes from his trance and faces Ensign Lucas. "Or stupidity. That doesn't matter in the end. The outcome remains the same: he saved our lives at the cost of his own."

A couple of feet away, Tony Q is still lying on the ground near the crate he used for cover, with Dr. Rose van Oers by his side to take care of his phaser wound. Tony moans and whines in agony.

"What's his status?" Lt. Appels asks.

"They didn't hit any vital organs. He was lucky," Dr. Van Oers says as she picks up some more equipment from her medkit.

"Lucky?!" Tony Q exclaims, which causes him even more pain.

"He has suffered severe phaser burns and some bruises, but I've managed to stabilize him," Rose says. "It could've been worse. Perhaps you're still immortal, Tony."

"I don't think so. If I were immortal I shouldn't have been injured by a phaser beam. If that Altonoid had aimed any higher, I would've been dead."

"If that Altonoid had aimed any lower, you would've had a high voice," Lt. Appels replies dryly.

Tony gives him the evil eye. Once again, a bout of pain reminds him of his injury. "I think we know now that I'm no longer immortal..."

"I thought the Altonoids wouldn't shoot at commanders," Ensign Lucas says, trying to change the subject a little.

"Great. I just encountered the one near-sighted Altonoid on the entire station."

"I don't think they mind anymore," Lt. Appels says. "They just shoot at whatever wears a Starfleet uniform. I can't help but wonder what drives the Altonoids to behave the way they do. Their motivations seem so unclear."

"As happens too often in war," Ensign Lucas says. "Or is it that war happens too often?"

"Was it your idea to take oracle Lucas with us, Lieutenant Appels?" Tony says, sarcasm mode still functioning. "If so, I thank you. Where would we be without his insights... Ouch!"

"Hold still," Dr. Van Oers says. She takes the dermal regenerator and hovers it over Tony's phaser wound. The wound gets healed considerably, emphasizing the hole of at least 3 inches in diameter in Tony's jacket and shirt, and showing Tony's semi-healed skin underneath it.

Tony lifts his head to see the tear in his uniform and says, "Oh great... One minute of battle and I've already managed to tear my shirt. Captain Kirk would've been proud of me."

Lt. Appels disregards that remark and asks the doctor, "Can he walk?"

"Well, he is out of immediate danger, but walking will be extremely difficult for now. I'll need to perform surgery."

"I'm feeling better already," Tony says timidly.

"So he'll only hold us up if we're to take him with us?" Lt. Appels asks.

Dr. Van Oers gives him a reluctant nod.

"This room is the most secure location right now, in my opinion," Appels continues. "So he can stay here until help arrives."

After having witnessed that last piece of dialogue, Tony lifts a feeble index finger and says, "Uhm... Isn't this the part where I beg you to go on without me?"

"Sorry, Commander, but time is of the essence," Lt. Appels says.

"All right," Dr. Van Oers says while she leans over to Tony. "You'll have to stay here. We'll come back for you."

"Please do," Tony says with a slight tremble in his voice.

"We must be on our way again," Lt. Appels says. His impatience has reached critical levels. "We're searching for the hostage room shield emitter, remember? Ensign Lucas, find us a way out of here. Doctor, please pick up a weapon and follow us."

Lucas complies, but Dr. Van Oers looks hesitant.

"What? Got a problem with that?" Lt. Appels asks.

"I'm a doctor, not a mercenary," Dr. Van Oers says. "I'd rather not use weaponry."

"Dammit, Rose. We need your help."

"I didn't say I didn't want to help you. I said I'd prefer not to use weaponry," Dr. Van Oers says as she raises her voice slightly.

"Preferences work nicely when you're safe on board your own ship, when the worst thing that can happen is that some ensign gets the flu. But that doesn't work when you're out here. We're in a war! You're a Starfleet officer, for crying out loud!"

"Hey, don't make me come over to you two," the wounded Tony Q says softly.

Lt. Appels continues his speech directed at the doctor. "You may have the rank of commander, but I'm the leader of this away team. And I'm ordering you to pick up a weapon and assist us."

Dr. Van Oers looks around and sees the bodies that belonged to Altonoids and Starfleet officers. "Look! Look at what fighting has brought us! And for what? We kill them, they kill us and vice versa." She sighs deeply before continuing. "Let me help you by doing what I'm best at. Let me help you save lives."

A beat of silence passes.

"But you can save lives! Billions of lives depend on our actions today, and the same goes for the future of the Federation. The Altonoids have invaded our space with violence. The only way to repel them is with violence. We have no choice. We have fought for our ideals so many times before—against the Romulans, the Dominion, the Borg... We will fight for the ideals we have cherished all of our lives. We will fight for the ideals of the Federation. And whether we succeed or not, at least we can say we fought!"

Another beat of silence.

"That's what's frightening me," Dr. Van Oers says as she sticks her chin up. "The Altonoids also think that they're fighting for the right cause, whatever it may be. That's what always happens in war. There are never real 'bad guys.'"

Appels lets those words seep in for a moment. "You are right, Doctor. However, the fact remains that the Altonoids are the aggressors, and they've invaded our peace and safety, and they are going to do a lot more killing if we'd let them have their way. Do you think they'll stop after they've taken over this station?"

"No..." the doctor admits.

"They will no doubt try to undermine the entire Federation and conquer it. They will enslave the few survivors and send them to the dilithium mines, if they're lucky... So, you have vowed to serve Starfleet and to protect its citizens. This is your chance. No, this is your duty!" He points at the nearest phaser rifle. "You know what to do."

Without saying a word, Dr. Van Oers walks over to the motionless Lt. Clayton. His dead, wide eyes stare at the ceiling, and his hands are still clamped around his phaser rifle—the same weapon that couldn't prevent his death. She grabs hold of the rifle and carefully pulls it out of the dead officer's hands. A quick check of the rifle proves that it's still completely intact. When she looks over to Lt. Appels, she can see him nodding in approval.

Tony looks at the armed doctor. "Good luck, G.I. Jane," he says with a smile.

"Thanks," the doctor replies. "Don't go anywhere. You're relatively safe here."

"Relatively..." Tony replies as his smile dissipates.

Dr. Van Oers turns around and sees that Ensign Lucas has managed to open the door they used to enter the room. The three Starfleet officers leave the room, leaving Tony Q and a lot of still Altonoids and Starfleet officers behind.

* * *

The Kennedy, the Wolf, and the two remaining parts of the Sundance have been fighting the second Massal for a while now. The other Massal hasn't participated in the fight since the arrival of its sister ship. Any repairs must be complete by this time, so having the vessel watch from the sidelines probably stems from the Altonoids' sheer confidence in their powerful position.

Letor Fune witnesses the battle from the safe confines of the conference room. Everything is going according to plan, and by now the four captured officers have grown sick and tired of that constant self-righteous grin on his face.

The Altonoid with the bandage on his hand accesses an LCARS display on the wall and says, "Fune! We've received a message from Admiral Owen Paris. He says the Federation is willing to negotiate."

Letor Fune keeps his eyes fixed on the space battle and says, "Tell them we're having problems with our communications array. We cannot read their messages properly. We'll get back to them."

"Yes, sir." The Altonoid quickly types the message. "Message sent."

Fune looks at the flag officers and says with a wry grin, "We'll get back to them once we've purged the station of every bit of resistance."

* * *

Now that her engines are working again, the USS Kennedy is trying to be an active participant in this battle, despite all the damage it has already suffered. Ops officer Sven Muntenaar reports, "The Altonoids are sending a message to Starbase 9."

"What are they saying?" Lt. Sivar asks.

"They claim they're having problems with their communications array."

"Right..." Lt. Malin adds, even though she's busy trying to prevent the ship from being hit by those strong Altonoid phaser beams.

Lt. Muntenaar shakes his head. "It appears they want to fight this out before they'll even open negotiations. And I wonder if they are willing to commence negotiations in the first place."

"Speculation will not help us at this time. Keep evading incoming fire," Lt. Sivar says coolly.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Lt. Malin replies. An enemy phaser strike hits target and the bridge rocks violently. One of the few consoles that are still operative sends out a series of sparks.

"Engineering to bridge," they hear Chief Engineer Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman say over the comm system. "Structural integrity is at sixteen percent. I've managed to divert a bit more power to the structural integrity field. I don't know how long it will hold, but it's better than nothing,"

"Thank you, Commander," Lt. Sivar says. "It is imperative that we keep the ship together. However, it is also of vital importance to fire at the upgraded Massal-class Altonoid ship as frequently as possible."

"I'll take that as an order," Ensign Parkin says with a faint smile. The USS Kennedy flies past the large Massal, rolls to the left to evade four Altonoid phaser beams targeting the lower secondary hull of the USS Sundance, and fires its ventral phasers.

* * *

"The lower section's hull is buckling, sir," the science officer of the Prometheus-class USS Sundance says.

The Bolian Lieutenant Broitz doesn't react and stares at the viewscreen, which displays the lower secondary hull getting pounded on by four strong Altonoid phaser beams. They've already lost the middle section of their ship right at the start of this battle, immediately after ordering the ship to separate into three battle-worthy sections. Now he's about to lose the lower section as well. There must be a way to save it, some order that will save the day, but his mind has gone completely blank.

"Its shields are failing!" the science officer shouts.

Broitz continues to stare at the viewscreen and witnesses the phaser beams slowly cutting its way through the hull plating of the lower section.

* * *

It is obvious that the USS Wolf has also sustained damage, because the bridge isn't in shipshape condition anymore. The bridge crew witnesses the imminent destruction of the lower section of the Sundance. If that blows up, the separated saucer of the Sundance will be all that remains of Captain Rinckes' vessel.

"Dammit, we've got to do something!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson swears.

"I've heard those words before," the commander hears. He looks to his left and sees the tall Captain Suzan Reynolds standing next to him. Almost getting blown off her ship has certainly left some impact on her otherwise pristine appearance, but the fire in her eyes burns so strongly that she looks nothing short of invincible.

"Captain?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson asks, unable to hide his amazement. It would seem that the captain of the late Satellite didn't like the idea of waiting out the battle from sickbay.

"Thanks for warming up the chair for me," Captain Reynolds says.

Leif Anderson understands. He stands up and makes way for the new temporary captain.

Lt. Stephanie Grant can't suppress a proud smile as Captain Suzan Reynolds sits down in the captain's chair of the USS Wolf. The captain presses a button on the side of her new chair and says, "All hands, this is Captain Reynolds. As of this moment, I'm taking command of the fleet." Lt. Grant makes sure that the message also gets transmitted to the Sundance and Kennedy. "I can't guarantee we'll be victorious, but I'm sure we can and will give the Altonoids hell!"


	5. Chapter 5

At the start of the battle, the USS Sundance initiated multi-vector assault mode and split into three battle-ready sections. The middle section was destroyed embarrassingly early on and now the lower section seems to be next. It hangs motionlessly in space and a growing number of hull breaches betray that its structural integrity is failing. The bridge crews of the Kennedy, the Wolf, and the saucer of the Sundance have to watch helplessly as the Altonoid phaser beams set the lower section of the Sundance ablaze. They see her hull tearing itself apart and the interior of the ship decompressing deck by deck, until she has to give in to the laws of physics and blows up to form an impressive but meaningless shockwave.

* * *

Aboard the USS Wolf:

"Three green bottles hanging on the wall..." Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson softly sings with an eerie tone in his voice. He has taken control of tactical again, now that Captain Suzan Reynolds has taken command of the small fleet. He looks at the tall captain with her long chestnut hair and notices that she exudes enough confidence and leadership to make it look like she's been in command of this vessel for years, even though she first set foot on this bridge about a minute ago.

"Open fire at the lead Massal," Captain Reynolds says. Silently, she adds, "What is taking them so long?"

Her words were loud enough to pique the Swedish Lt. Cmdr. Anderson's interest. "Excuse me?" he inquires.

"That information is classified," Captain Reynolds replies briskly. The lead Massal directs its four phaser beams at the USS Wolf, making the bridge shudder dangerously. "But I'll tell you anyway, because you all have the right to know and I don't think I'll be facing a court martial any time soon." She hasn't lost her usual wit.

"We won't tell anyone," science officer Ensign Mick Daniels says with a subtle smile.

"There should've been a rather nice fleet just out of sensor range in case the diplomatic meeting went wrong," Captain Reynolds says. "You don't think my late USS Satellite was our only backup plan, now do you?"

Another console gives up the struggle and dims as the bridge continues to shake. "Figures. But where the hell are they then?" the blonde Lt. Stephanie Grant asks while she holds on to her helm station in front of the bridge.

Captain Reynolds grimaces. "That's what I'd like to know too. When the Altonoids sent out their first message, it should have alerted the fleet. This is taking way too long."

"So much for the pending deus ex machina..." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson sighs.

"I hate to interrupt this little intermezzo," Ensign Daniels says, "but I thought you might be interested in hearing our troop reports."

"Another time, Ensign," Captain Reynolds says. "We're quite busy here."

"I'd like to hear it anyway, Daniels," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. When he sees the captain is scowling at him, he adds apologetically, "It might be important."

After the captain gives Anderson a reluctant nod, Ensign Daniels begins his summary of the troop reports. "Our remaining troops still haven't found the hostage room shield array, because they constantly find themselves struggling with an abundance of Altonoids. They've also encountered many dead Starfleet officers and identified some of them as crewmembers of Station A-12. They doubt they will be able to secure the station or find the shield array before it's too late, but they will not give up."

Everyone is silent for a moment, despite the hammering the Wolf is taking, and everyone watches Captain Reynolds to await her next move. After a brief moment of consideration, she speaks up. "All right, guys. We don't want our troops to be fighting in vain. Initiate attack pattern Worf 4-Gamma."

It's all they needed to hear.

* * *

Captain Stephan Rinckes crawls through one of the station's many Jefferies tubes until he reaches its end. He holds on tight to his phaser rifle and presses a small LCARS panel with his free hand to open the Jefferies tube's exit hatch. Immediately, he spots three Altonoids standing in the corridor. The sound of the opening hatch also makes sure that the three Altonoids immediately spot him...

Rinckes doesn't hesitate for one second and fires his phaser rifle at the closest Altonoid. Before that Altonoid can even hit the ground, Rinckes leaps out of the Jefferies tube. He absorbs the impact with the floor by rolling forward and then knocks the left Altonoid off his feet with a low spinning sweep kick. Once the captain has finished rotating, he stands up without losing momentum and shoots the other Altonoid without even looking at him.

Captain Rinckes is breathing rather heavily after this nice maneuver. His dark blond hair is a mess and his uniform is scorched and torn in places, revealing that he's had to fight more Altonoids along the way. Apart from looking worn out, something else about him is instantly noticeable: there is a certain paradoxical look in his eyes that shows both agony and sheer determination.

He looks around a bit, deciding whether to go left or right. Near him lies a dead female Starfleet officer. It's not Commander Melanie Simons. It's someone else, someone he doesn't know. It reminds him of the grim possibility that Melanie might have been killed already. The mere thought of her lying dead in some corridor—like this unfortunate woman—makes him grit his teeth. He is going to find Melanie Simons, even if he'll have to fight every damn Altonoid on the station to get to her.

He spots the Altonoid he just kicked off his feet. The Altonoid is lying on the floor, holding on to his painful shins. The captain grabs him by the collar and lifts him up, fueled by adrenaline. "Tell me," Rinckes growls, "have you seen Commander Simons passing through this area?"

"You must be Captain Rinckes." Despite the fact that Rinckes is nearly choking him, the Altonoid brings up a smile. "You won't get far. These decks are swarming with us."

"That's not what I asked!" Rinckes bellows. "I asked..." He tightens his grip around the Altonoid's collar and his tone of voice becomes even more threatening. "Have you seen Commander Simons passing through this area?"

The Altonoid can barely take in enough air to emit a simple cough. He manages to say, "I saw her." He looks over to the nearby dead officer. "And I shot her!" The pride in his voice is equaled only by its challenging tone.

Rage overrides all of the captain's senses. "That's not her!" He shoves the Altonoid against the bulkhead without letting go.

"All right, all right," the Altonoid shrills. "We're trying to track her down as we speak. We've received orders to do so."

"Go on." Captain Rinckes loosens his grip slightly.

"She was last seen in the observation lounge of this deck," the Altonoid says. "But you're too late anyway. I already called for backup."

Rinckes' face fills with hatred again as he pushes the enemy soldier away. The unfortunate Altonoid slams into the bulkhead with the back of his head and passes out. Without giving him a second glance, Captain Rinckes readies his rifle and heads for the observation lounge.

* * *

The wounded Tony Q is the only one alive—or conscious, at least—in the large room he's in. He finds himself surrounded by slain Altonoids and Starfleet officers. The big door behind him hasn't opened again ever since Lieutenant Hoper shut it, so Tony is relatively safe. Safe... He doesn't feel safe...

He touches the phaser wound above his right hip and winces in pain. Doctor Van Oers stabilized him before she left, and the wound isn't potentially lethal anymore, but it still hurts like hell. If he ever makes it out of this station alive, he will have to undergo surgery, that's for certain.

Now that he's lying there with some time to kill, he notices there are a few rather large gaps in the ceiling. It looks as if there's some kind of maintenance room above this deck. Well, studying this area's architectural layout isn't exactly a priority at the moment.

With a great deal of effort, Tony sits up and leans his back against a crate that has had its share of phaser fire. He looks at the dead Starfleet officers lying around him. "Poor souls," Tony mutters. "Poor, mortal souls. Why did I have to become like you? All I did was help the Federation, help my friends in need. And what do I get in return? The Q Continuum strips me of my powers." There's a pained, frightened look on his face that betrays how young Tony really is now that he finds himself bereft of all his usual bravado.

"Tell me, Q!" he raises his voice as much as the pain allows. "Why didn't you do anything?" His words echo into nothingness. "I know you tried to stop me... But what if my cause was worth fighting for? Do I really deserve to be lying here? Wounded. Defeated. Overcome... Human again!"

Silence.

"I'd forgotten what it was like to be human, fragile again," he says as he looks down at his phaser wound. After a few seconds of bitter contemplation, he raises his head and shouts, "Why didn't you help me? Why did you let them shoot me? Why didn't you stand up for me when the Q Continuum kicked me out? Why don't you answer me?" The pain wins the battle against his lungs again. He grabs his phaser wound and continues to sob.

Suddenly, Tony spots a shadow moving across the room. Tony narrows his eyes and sees that it's an Altonoid who has regained consciousness! The Altonoid is aiming his rifle at him! With a lot of effort, the startled Tony rolls to the right. Pieces of debris stab him in the legs, but it's worth the pain because an Altonoid phaser beam misses him with millimeters to spare. After completing his painful evasive maneuver, Tony searches for his hand phaser. He grabs it from its holster, aims it, and fires. The approaching Altonoid gets hit in the chest and slumps to the ground.

The shocked Tony doesn't move for a few seconds. He still has his phaser trained on the dead Altonoid. "All right, that's it," Tony decides. "I'm getting out of here." He carefully plucks a piece of crate out of his leg and starts crawling toward the exit, giving the shot Altonoid a lot of room, just to be safe.

He crawls over a rather large chunk of debris that belonged to a crate. Just when he shifts his weight onto it, he hears a moan. Startled, he immediately crawls back a bit and stays silent for a moment. Then, carefully, he presses a hand against the debris. Another sound! Tony slowly lifts up the chunk of debris and points his phaser at... Ensign Murphy! She has scratches and bruises on her face, but it looks as though she has regained consciousness. Tony utilizes the little strength he has left to lift the remains of the crate and its contents off the unlucky ensign.

Ensign Murphy sits up. Her uniform is stained and scratched, and her long, brown hair is a mess. She coughs and greets Tony with a solemn, "Commander..."

"Are you all right?" Tony asks as he crawls closer to her. "Ensign... Ensign Murphy, right?"

"Ensign Emily C. Murphy, sir." She looks around. "Did I miss anything?"

Tony looks around too for a moment and sighs, "You might say that."

"Are we the only survivors?"

"No. Lieutenant Appels, Doctor Van Oers, and Ensign Lucas are still running around somewhere... We'd better get out of here. It won't be much safer outside, but I've seen enough here. This place is giving me the creeps."

"I know what you mean. It's not exactly filled with happy memories," Ensign Murphy says with a faint smile.

Tony replies with a brief smile, before saying, "I must apologize for my lack of medical skills, but I assume you can walk?"

"I can walk," Ensign Murphy says as she rises to her feet. When she sees that Tony makes no effort to stand up, she asks, "But can you? You're wounded!"

"No kidding."

"I don't understand. Aren't you supposed to be a Q?" Ensign Murphy asks as she reaches for Tony.

"Not anymore..." Tony says with a bit too much regret showing in his voice. "Let's just get out of here, shall we? There's more I should tell you."

Ensign Murphy helps the commander to his feet and puts his arm around her shoulder. Together they exit the large room.

* * *

Four massive phaser beams glide over the hull of the USS Wolf, inflicting some serious damage on that Akira-class starship. Yet, the four phaser beams cease attacking the Wolf quickly enough and find a new target in the last remaining part of the USS Sundance: its saucer section. To make matters worse, the first Massal has rejoined the battle and is attacking the Kennedy.

The bridge of the USS Wolf is still shaking from the last attack, and some of the lights have gone down. This makes the eerie light coming from the red alert panels stand out even more. Lt. Cmdr. Anderson regains his balance and says, "That last hit almost breached through our hull. Lining up port torpedoes."

"Divert more power to the shields," Captain Suzan Reynolds says. "Lieutenant, give me a casualty report."

"Our casualties have been light thus far," Lt. Stephanie Grant says. "Decks four and fi— Wait. We're being hailed by the Kennedy."

"Put them on screen," Captain Reynolds says. She stands up, revealing once again how tall and slender she is.

The Vulcan Lt. Sivar and the severely battered bridge around him appear on the viewscreen. The bridge of the USS Kennedy is by no means brighter than that of the Wolf.

"Can you still keep the ship together, Lieutenant?" Captain Reynolds asks.

"Hardly, Captain, as you may have noticed by observing my immediate surroundings," Lt. Sivar says while Ensign Parkin topples over his tactical station in the background. The last sparks fly off a damaged wall panel due to a weapon strike, and Lt. Sivar can barely hold on to his captain's chair. "Captain, I must advise you to order what remains of our fleet to withdraw."

Captain Reynolds is somewhat surprised. "You mean we should give up?"

"That is one possible interpretation of my statement," Sivar replies. "Logic dictates that if there is no possible way to win a battle, we should not risk the lives of our crews in a last, desperate attempt to achieve the unachievable."

"There's another battle being fought right now, Lieutenant," Captain Reynolds sharply replies. "The battle on that station we're defending. Hundreds of Starfleet officers are fighting there for us. We won't abandon them. More lives are at stake here than yours and mine."

"Captain. I did not mea—"

"I think I've made myself quite clear, Lieutenant." Captain Reynolds sits down in her chair. As far as she's concerned, this argument is over. "The only way to guarantee a lost battle is by giving up, and I'm not going to do that. The odds may be against us, but history has shown time and again that's never been a good reason to quit."

"As you wish, Captain," Lt. Sivar says with no apparent emotion. He ends the transmission and the fierce battle fills the viewscreen again.

* * *

A few Starfleet engineers are desperately trying to fix the dark and quite shattered bridge of the Kennedy for at least a slight bit. Lt. Malin and Lt. Muntenaar are trying to keep up with the information their stations in front of the bridge keep feeding them, while Ensign Parkin is trying out every evasive maneuver he has ever learned at the Academy—not too long ago. Lt. Sivar is sitting on his chair as if it were any ordinary day, even though the bridge is shuddering violently enough to make even the most experienced hover coaster tester feel a bit queasy.

"That first Massal sure is giving us a run for our money," Ensign Parkin says. "As if the second Massal isn't giving us enough trouble..."

"Direct your attention to your station, Ensign," Lt. Sivar says and he swivels his chair to face Ensign Parkin. "Use whatever weaponry we have left to attack that first upgraded Massal-class Altonoid starship." Lt. Sivar turns to face the viewscreen again. "Lieutenant Muntenaar, what is the status of the Altonoid vessel we are currently targeting?"

"It seems more like they're targeting us," Lt. Muntenaar replies, while yet another successful phaser strike causes his console to spark. Sven Muntenaar bounces back, quickly runs a hand through his black hair to remove any smoldering sparks caught in it, and continues his report. "But their shields are down to below forty percent... I guess. I can't be sure. Our sensor arrays could use a little refit."

The USS Kennedy lines up its forward torpedo launchers and fires four elliptic photon torpedoes at the Altonoid vessel that was responsible for most of the Kennedy's damage. The Wolf joins in on the attack; several photon torpedoes leave the Wolf's enhanced weapon pod and race toward the Massal. After the Wolf supports the barrage of torpedoes with sufficient phaser fire, the Massal ceases fire.

The bridge of the USS Kennedy is still shaking after the last phaser hit. "They've stopped firing and their shields are almost down!" Lt. Muntenaar exclaims.

Before Lt. Sivar can give further orders, Chief Engineer Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman contacts the bridge again. "That last phaser hit took our shields offline. It will take a while to fix." Soeteman's voice sounds tired. "Our hull integrity is down to twelve percent. We are slowly losing power throughout the ship. Emergency force fields are going down one by one."

"Evacuate the affected sections," Lt. Sivar says.

"That's the problem. We can't reach those sections. The comm system is down in some of the more damaged areas. Oh, there's one more thing: aft torpedo launchers have gone a bit awry. I recommend not using them."

Lt. Sivar stares at the viewscreen, just like the rest of the bridge crew.

"Sir?"

Nobody responds. They're all staring at the Massal on the viewscreen. Its phaser wires are flashing on and off again. Streaks of light are racing through the wires...

Lt. Sivar is the first to break the silence, maintaining his professionalism. "It would be wise to get the shields back online, Commander." With a quick tap of a button, he expands the comm channel to every possible part of the ship. "All hands, brace for another Altonoid phaser strike."

"I understand," Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman sighs, before closing the channel.

"Indeed," Lt. Sivar says and he raises an eyebrow. He turns to face Ensign Parkin again. "Fire everything we have, Ensign. Focus the attack on one point of their phaser array."

Ensign Parkin hesitates for a brief moment and then complies with a resolute look on his young face.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Wolf and the Sundance are attacking the second Massal, but by now they have noticed that the first Massal is preparing for another colossal attack. The Wolf evades the second Massal and opens fire at the first one in an attempt to break off their potentially fatal phaser strike. The stationary Massal makes for an easy target, but its massive phaser array keeps charging.

"The Massal's shields are down and its hull integrity has dropped to below fifty percent," Ensign Daniels declares. "No change in their weapon status."

"I can see that," Captain Reynolds says as she witnesses the streaks of light racing through the phaser wires of the immense Altonoid ship. For some reason, though, the onslaught of photon torpedoes decreases in intensity and comes to a stop. "Keep firing those torpedoes, Commander Anderson," Captain Reynolds calmly orders.

"Forward torpedo launchers on our weapon pod are completely empty now," Commander Anderson replies. "Our bow torpedo launchers have a few torpedoes left, but they'll need extensive repairs before we'll be able to use them again."

Captain Reynolds turns around to face Lt. Cmdr. Anderson, as if she cannot and will not believe what the commander has just said. His reply in the form of a sad nod confirms his words. Momentarily defeated, Captain Reynolds faces the viewscreen with a troubled look. She didn't anticipate this.

* * *

On the damaged bridge of the USS Kennedy:

"Sir." Lt. Muntenaar has the same type of troubled look on his face. "Though our sensors still aren't very accurate, I can confirm that the Massal is targeting us."

"Needless to say we won't make that, Sivar," the blonde Trill Lt. Malin adds.

"Keep firing at the Altonoid warship," Lt. Sivar says. "You have all heard what Captain Reynolds said. We will not give up."

Muntenaar raises his eyebrow at Malin, who's also impressed with Sivar's newfound mettle.

The USS Kennedy rotates counter-clockwise to let every phaser array that's still working unleash their fury on the Massal. The phaser strikes are already starting to knock hull plating off the buckling Massal, but the wires just keep on flashing.

* * *

"Turn us to port. Line up starboard torpedoes," Captain Reynolds says while she stands up on the dark bridge of the USS Wolf.

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson frantically types in the necessary commands. "Torpedoes lined up!"

"Fire!"

The two starboard torpedo launchers of the USS Wolf spit out four torpedoes each, which bombard the weakened hull of the Massal and blow up in fiery explosions.

"Their hull integrity is down to twenty-eight percent!" Ensign Daniels shouts.

"Good. Line up aft torpedoes. Fire when ready," Captain Reynolds says with apparent fighting spirit.

Ensign Daniels' console starts beeping. "Now they're targeting us!"

"I don't know whether to laugh or cry," Captain Reynolds says swiftly, beneath her breath. "Divert all power to aft shields!"

"Aft torpedoes lined up!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts. "Altonoid vessel is firing!"

"Fire aft torpedoes! Now!"

The streaks of light converge at one point on the Massal's hull and form one enormous phaser burst. At that same moment, the aft launchers on the weapon pod of the USS Wolf unleash a salvo of photon torpedoes at the firing Massal.

The Altonoid phaser strike reaches the USS Wolf in a few milliseconds and passes the photon torpedoes that are headed into the opposite direction. One torpedo grazes the phaser strike, which upsets the torpedo's guidance system, causing it to make a few odd turns before exploding harmlessly in open space.

However, the phaser beam slashes right through the aft shields of the USS Wolf as if they're nonexistent, and it pounds on the Wolf's weapon pod, which is still spitting out torpedoes. A photon torpedo that just left the pod is struck immediately and blows up. Its detonation adds to the already enormous power of the devastating phaser strike. Needless to say, the weapon pod can't handle this... The resulting explosion swallows it whole. Every part of the pod that isn't instantly vaporized gets blown to pieces. Everybody on board gets thrown off their feet. The very unfortunate ones are sucked into open space immediately, while others crash into the nearest workstation or bulkhead. The closer the crewmembers are to the explosion, the smaller their chances of survival.

The fire caused by the exploding weapon pod is extinguished rather quickly by the vacuum of space, but as the debris clears away, the severity of the damage becomes obvious. The weapon pod is just... gone. A very odd sight, since the missing pod changes the appearance of the catamaran-like hull drastically. This also does not have a positive influence on the structural integrity of the Wolf...

A dozen photon torpedoes have made it to the Massal, however. They hit the Massal several seconds after the massive phaser attack, carve straight through the already damaged hull, and explode from inside the enormous Altonoid vessel. The Massal can't take this battering; consequently, its structural integrity fails completely. The explosions from the detonating torpedoes culminate in new explosions coming from within, which spread across the entire ship. Large sections of the outer hull tear off, and the generated heat causes the enormous phaser wires to unravel themselves before they are consumed by flames.

Within seconds, the entire Massal disappears inside the sum of all the cascading explosions. In other words: the whole damn ship blows up!

Relatively small pieces of debris that manage to ride the shockwave escape the explosions and smash into the nearby ships and Station A-12, causing little damage. After the flames have drowned into nothingness, there is nothing left of the mighty Altonoid prototype but pieces of spreading debris and some dark stains on the space station and the surrounding ships.

* * *

Letor Fune curses while he witnesses the debris and dust softly impacting on the large window of the hostage room.

"It seems there is no such thing as false hope," Cmdr. Dennis Levine says as he stands up. Letor Fune takes a few mighty steps toward the commander and pushes him over with brute force. Cmdr. Levine lands uncomfortably on the conference table. His blond hair is a complete mess now, but that only adds to his defiant look.

Commander Jansen checks to see if he's all right, while Letor Fune turns to face the fleet. "This changes nothing!" Letor Fune snarls.

Admiral Van Aken can't suppress a subtle, proud smile, even though his ship, the Wolf, has sustained heavy damage. Having your ship sustain heavy damage is always better than having it blow up altogether. Captain Duvivier, however, remains unmoved while he sits on the floor in silence. He keeps his eyes fixed on his ship, the Kennedy, and waits for the inevitable continuation of the battle.

* * *

On the USS Kennedy, Lt. Malin gives Lt. Muntenaar a cheerful look as she shakes her fist at the remains of the first Massal. "Yes! That's one menace down!" Her optimism forms a great contrast with the dark and moody bridge.

"There's still one left, unfortunately," Lt. Muntenaar says. He keeps his demeanor professional as always, but he can't suppress a modest smile.

"You are both correct," Lt. Sivar says. "Though it is agreeable that one of the Altonoid vessels has been neutralized—"

"You mean blown to bits, sir," Ensign Parkin says with a smirk, and the rest of the small bridge crew excluding Sivar smiles too.

"...we must now focus on neutralizing the second upgraded Massal-class vessel," Sivar continues.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Soeteman calling the bridge."

"You may proceed, Commander," Lt. Sivar says.

"We're ready for shore leave down here!"

"We all are, Commander," Lt. Malin says, still with a smile on her face.

"I advise you to keep this ship out of battle for a while. We can't take much more right now. We're going to lose many crewmembers if those emergency force fields keep failing." Everyone listens carefully. "And our main battery is still draining. We're really missing that warp core over here."

"All right, Commander," Lt. Sivar says. "Please continue your efforts to contact crewmembers who are in hazardous areas. In the meantime, find a way to boost the main battery and allocate our resources to battle systems only. It would be wise to utilize the newly gained time by allowing our weapon systems to cool down."

"Yes sir. I'll do the best I can here."

"Indeed. Time is of the essence." Sivar looks to his right and sees an engineering ensign trying to pick up a heavy piece of debris. "Let me help you with that, Ensign." And with that, the Vulcan lieutenant stands up and assists him.

* * *

Though the last massive phaser strike was aimed at the weapon pod, the bridge of the USS Wolf has also sustained a lot of damage. Most officers have retaken their stations by now and damage reports are flooding in. Multiple alerts go off simultaneously, but the crew is still a bit too stumped to do or say much of anything.

The first person to break the relative silence is the captain, who's hanging rather than sitting in her chair. "That's it. It's official: my hair is a mess now." She sits up and requests a damage report, even though she knows it will consist only of bad news.

"Our weapon pod has been destroyed completely. Port and starboard torpedo launchers are the only launchers that are still functioning," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says as a wall console sends sparks at him. "Our shields are down and our hull integrity is at eighteen percent."

"Multiple decks have been severely damaged, especially the aft sections," Lt. Stephanie Grant says while she's having trouble keeping up with the sheer number of incoming casualty and damage reports. "That phaser impact didn't only take out your hair, Captain."

Captain Reynolds smiles.

"Engines are offline. We're drifting," Lt. Grant continues.

"Send every engineer to fix the engines," Captain Reynolds orders. "And tell everyone on the ship that we've destroyed one of those Altonoid ships. We can all use a little morale boost."

Lt. Grant replies with a nod. Suddenly, her console starts bleeping. "The Kennedy is hailing us, text only. They are 'forced to discontinue their participation in the current battle and have fallen back for repairs.' They will 'offer assistance to resolve our predicament as soon as the status of the USS Kennedy improves sufficiently to be of valuabl—'"

"I get the main idea, Lieutenant," Captain Reynolds interrupts. "That does sound like Lieutenant Sivar all right... It doesn't matter right now. We must repair our thrusters so we'll stop drifting. That's our number one priority."

Lt. Grant concentrates on her station again, but Cmdr. Anderson hesitates. "What about the Sundance?" he asks.

"They're on their own for now," Captain Reynolds sighs.

* * *

The saucer (and last remaining) section of the USS Sundance swoops past the Massal in a direct attacking maneuver. The Sundance's surface is scorched in places, and visible hull breaches are beginning to form in vital areas.

The four Altonoid phaser beams create another hull breach in the belly of the Sundance and knock her out of control for a brief moment. The Sundance recovers quickly and lines up her bow to face the Massal. She fires four photon torpedoes, but it's a futile attempt. The four phaser beams keep pounding on the failing Sundance's forward shields, until they go down entirely. This allows the four phaser beams to sear through the hull, and the single torpedo launcher on the bow of the ship gets blown to pieces.

The Bolian Lieutenant Broitz has nothing to sit on anymore, since the captain's chair lies broken on the floor. As a matter of fact, there are no chairs left standing on the entire bridge. It is a shambles, just like the bridges of the Wolf and the Kennedy. Several officers remain lying on the floor or hang silently over one of the bridge railings. The normal lighting has gone offline, so now the bridge is being lit by a strange mixture of light coming from the few working LCARS panels and the blue Multi-Vector Assault Mode (MVAM) indicators—a combination of light that makes Lt. Broitz's blue skin appear gray.

"Deflectors, shields, and torpedo launchers are offline!" tactical officer Lt. Jena Roguez shouts. It's difficult to make herself heard with a nearby broken conduit hissing like an angry cat.

"Hull integrity?" Lt. Broitz shouts as he looks to his right, where the engineering officer should be. But he's not at his workstation; his motionless corpse lies next to the broken captain's chair. Lt. Broitz also sees that the engineering wall panel isn't working anymore. It just... sparks a lot.

"What should we do?" the helm ensign shouts.

Lt. Broitz has no idea, frankly. He never had to face a situation this dire in real life. Those simulations at the Academy weren't this stressful! His mind works like crazy for a moment while he frantically looks around and sees the chaos and destruction around him. Then he finally says, "Bring us about. Evasive maneuvers. Keep firing any working phaser array in range. Single bursts. Give them some cooling time." He turns around to pick up the captain's chair and attempts to set it straight.

"Sir?" Lt. Roguez says as she sees the Bolian struggling with the chair.

"A commanding officer needs his chair," Broitz says. Sweat drips down from his forehead.

The saucer section of the USS Sundance turns around, fires an occasional phaser burst at the Massal, and attempts to avoid the four massive phaser beams by flying away in an erratic pattern. It's no use; the never-ceasing phaser fire breaches their shields with ease, and now the already weakened hull gets pounded on severely.

Then the arch-shaped aft lower hull plating collapses, and the four massive phaser beams slice right through the lowest few decks! The lights on the Sundance flicker as its lower warp engine explodes in a ball of flames. The ship itself appears to have remained largely intact, but that's only because the sides of the saucer obscure most of the critical damage.

Everyone (conscious or not) gets tossed around on the bridge of the Sundance. Lt. Broitz finds himself lying on top of his chair. He stands up carefully, looks around, and sees a lot of sparking consoles and few crewmates who return to their stations—or what's left of their stations. The bridge is still dark as hell, with those ominous MVAM indicators as its only proper light source.

Broitz looks around, wondering how he's going to clean up this mess they've gotten themselves into. He sees Lt. Roguez reaching for her wall panel workstation. "They've stopped firing at us!" She has to shout in order to be heard, with that ever-hissing conduit right next to her.

"Good," Lt. Broitz says, and he starts wrestling his chair again. "So why is the bridge still shaking?"

"I'm getting incomplete damage reports now," Lt. Roguez says as she accesses the tactical wall panel in front of her. "Sir, we're drifting and our lower decks have been blown off!"

"Oh dear..." Broitz says as he lifts his chair to where it should be.

"Hull breaches are tearing through the ship! Our decks are decompressing one by one!"

"Oh dear..." Broitz says as he fastens the chair. The bridge shakes more and more and an ever-growing rumbling sound becomes audible.

"Emergency force fields can't keep up!"

The captain's chair is now quite adequately repaired.

"The hull breaches are tearing the ship apart! Soon they will reach the bridge! What should we do?!" Lt. Roguez screams. The hull breaches spread toward them, causing the rumbling to increase dramatically.

Lt. Broitz turns around to front the viewscreen with a determined look on his face. Somehow he has found new strength, while bulkheads, wall panels, and pillars around him are starting to fissure. Lieutenant Broitz sits down, clutches both armrests of his captain's chair, sighs deeply, and says, "All right..."

Just when he inhales to complete his sentence, the floor underneath his chair gives way and he and his newly repaired captain's chair sink right through it.

The USS Sundance drifts away from the Massal and the two other Starfleet vessels. All air, debris, and the occasional crewmember are shoved out of the growing number of hull breaches that are spreading throughout the ship, and all lights on the ship go out one by one as the surrounding sections start to collapse.

* * *

Captain Stephan Rinckes looks even worse than he did when he fought the three Altonoids a little while back. His entire body aches, but that does nothing to stop him from searching for his first officer. With his phaser rifle lifted, ready to take down any opposition, he opens a door that leads to a side room with a plain view of the stars outside. No battling starships in sight.

"Stars..." he sighs. "I must be getting close." He checks if the room is occupied. No Commander Simons. No Altonoids. No nothing. Just an empty room with a nice view of the stars.

Then, from the left corner of the window, Captain Rinckes sees something moving. It's the saucer of the USS Sundance, drifting and tilting forward! Rinckes sees that her hull is buckling. Some chunks of hull have already broken off in volatile explosions, which expand further and further throughout the entire ship, until she can't take it anymore. The top little warp nacelle is the last part that visibly breaks off before the entire vessel tears to pieces in a final explosion. The USS Sundance is no more... Captain Rinckes has to watch helplessly as the remains of his ship spread outwards in a bright cloud.


	6. Chapter 6

Captain Stephan Rinckes has to close his narrow eyes briefly to protect them from the bright light coming from the Sundance's destruction. Moments ago, a final explosion ripped apart the saucer section of the USS Sundance and forever silenced everyone on board. The Sundance, his own command, that strong Prometheus-class starship he was so proud of, is gone. Blown to dust in a hopeless battle.

He moves closer to the window and takes a look at his own reflection. Running around in search of his first officer has taken its toll on his appearance. Now that he can see the marks on his face and the cuts in his uniform, he notices the stinging and droning pain all over his body. What he sees when he looks to the left makes him forget his physical discomfort right away; a huge prototype Altonoid vessel is fighting the severely damaged USS Kennedy and USS Wolf. From what he can see, the Altonoids have gained the upper hand. Are there really four phaser beams pounding on the weakened shields of the Kennedy? He looks back into the room and realizes, "We'll never win this battle." He stares ahead for a moment, deep in thought. Then he remembers why he's here. "Melanie."

Just when he's about to leave, he hears footsteps coming from behind the door he used to enter this room. He can hear approaching voices, largely muted by the bulkheads and the door itself. "He's in here! We've got him."

Captain Rinckes sets his phaser rifle on the highest power setting, making the setting indicators on top of the rifle turn red, and points the rifle at the door. As the footsteps close in rapidly, he notices there's another door to his right. He doesn't hesitate for a second and makes a run for it as the first door opens to reveal a group of armed Altonoids. Captain Rinckes tries to run as fast as he can, even though he's very tired. The look on his face hardens, however, because reaching that door will provide him his only chance of survival.

The Altonoids close in on the captain of the late USS Sundance and try to get a target lock on him, while the double sliding door in front of him starts to open. However, with the captain's current running speed, the door won't be fully opened in time. Captain Rinckes therefore turns his torso to the right to make himself as narrow as possible. This also enables him to aim his rifle at the Altonoids with his outstretched right arm. Well, he tries to aim at the Altonoids, but because he's still running, he inadvertently aims at the window! He'll never break off the attack like this...

Some of the Altonoids have started firing their weapons at the captain. Fortunately for him, they can't get a clear shot at the running target. Captain Rinckes fires three phaser bursts, but they head straight for the window... and smash right through it! The phaser rifle is set on the highest setting and that is too much to handle even for the strong exterior window. It vaporizes for a considerable part, and the rest shatters and gets blown out in an instant.

Just when Captain Rinckes has raced out and enters the nearest corridor, all air gets shoved out. Every single Altonoid in the room is taken completely by surprise and gets dragged off his feet, flung through the broken window, and propelled into space by the sudden air displacement.

Captain Rinckes can feel the rushing air trying to pull him back into the room. With a great deal of effort, he is able to reach the bulkhead opposite the door, only to find that there's nothing to hold on to! As if a giant invisible hand scoops him up, the captain flies back to where he came from, waving his arms around, desperately trying to prevent certain death. In a moment of sheer luck, he manages to clasp the right side of the doorway with his left hand. While the air around him rushes into space with a thunderous roar, he tries to gasp for air, with little success. His left arm stretches to the max as the air displacement forces his feet to point at the window.

Then, suddenly (and finally!), the emergency force fields kick in and seal off the window.

Rinckes falls to the floor face-first. For a little while, he deeply breathes in and out, savoring the new supply of fresh oxygen that's being pumped back into the room.

After a few seconds, he carefully stands up again and notices that he has somehow managed to hold on to his phaser rifle. A bit too tightly, because his right hand is practically glued to the chrome of the rifle. He looks through the invisible force field that has replaced the window and sees the flailing Altonoids flying away in the distance. Then he calmly looks around in the empty room. For a moment, it seems as if he is about to smile in relief. But that hint of egoistical joy immediately gets suppressed by the thought that Melanie is still missing and could very well be in danger.

He changes the power setting of the phaser rifle to medium, wipes the dust from his tattered uniform jacket, and exits the room once again.

* * *

"This is all I can do for you right now," Doctor Rose van Oers says while she closes her medkit. Marc Lucas, the handsome Latin American ensign, has suffered a phaser wound to his left leg and is lying on his back. His damaged left pant leg reveals the location of the wound, but the skin underneath it appears to be healthy now. Despite that, the unfortunate ensign still seems to be in a bit of pain. Dr. Van Oers notices this and says in a reassuring tone, "Your injuries will heal. Don't worry about that."

The short, muscular Lieutenant Steven Appels looks around the corner to check if there are any Altonoids inbound. He sees nobody, but that does nothing to calm him down. "We should move on," he says impatiently.

Ensign Lucas attempts to stand up, and he succeeds with a little help from Dr. Van Oers, but the young ensign can't shift his weight to the injured leg and has no choice but to lie down again. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. That might be more difficult than you'd hope."

"We can't leave you behind in the middle of a corridor. Then we might as well shoot you right away," Lt. Appels says, with a trace of seriousness in his voice that makes Ensign Lucas give the lieutenant a slightly unsettled look and causes the doctor to take a protective stance over her patient. Steven Appels notices that, but he continues in the same tone anyway. "Maybe if you'd act dead, the Altonoids won't shoot you."

Ensign Lucas doesn't like that idea at all.

"Now that's a comforting thought!" Dr. Van Oers says. "I think I have a better idea. When I served as a nurse on board the USS Righteous some years ago, at one time a group of Orion pirates came out of nowhere and boarded our ship. They were looking for women to sell on one of their slave markets—not every Starfleet officer's dream."

"Please get to the point," Lt. Appels sighs, while watching out for Altonoids again.

"When the pirates boarded the ship and their intentions became clear, I came up with the idea to have every woman in sickbay hide in the empty morgue. We each entered a separate cryogenic chamber and used a medical tricorder to mask our life signs. It never even occurred to the pirates that we were hiding in there... We were the only female officers on that ship who weren't kidnapped by the Orion Syndicate that day."

"I don't believe the Altonoids want to kidnap me to paint me green and sell me as a slave," Ensign Lucas quips as he carefully sits up.

"The point is," she continues with a smile, "we should hide you somewhere the Altonoids will never expect your presence."

"You mean we should hide him in the ladies' room?" Lt. Appels remarks dryly.

Dr. Van Oers gives him the evil eye.

A little while later, the doctor and the chief security officer of the Kennedy lift Ensign Marc Lucas headfirst into a Jefferies tube very close to where they devised this plan. Dr. Van Oers practically has to crawl into the maintenance tube herself to hand the young ensign her medical tricorder. "It's set to mask your life signs."

Lt. Appels has remained standing in the corridor, and he doesn't even bother to look at the ensign when he says, "All you have to do is wait here. If we're not back in six hours, make your way to the nearest escape pod and get out of here."

"Sir, yes sir," Ensign Lucas replies.

"Try to relax a bit," the doctor says with a comforting smile. "You're perfectly safe here." She exits the maintenance tube, where an impatient Lt. Appels is waiting for her.

"Good luck... to both of you," Ensign Lucas says.

"Thanks," Doctor Van Oers replies, once again displaying her impeccable bedside manner. She closes the hatch and with that Lucas' only way of getting in or out of this particular Jefferies tube.

Lying there on his back, with a phaser wound on his leg and a medical tricorder next to it, Ensign Lucas tries to relax, and he begins humming to himself. The humming stops immediately when he makes a somewhat inconvenient realization. "But what if I've got to go to the bathroom?"

* * *

Commander Tony Q and Ensign Emily Murphy travel through the corridors of Station A-12. Tony Q can barely walk because of the phaser wound he has suffered just above his right hip, and a large portion of his weight is carried by the attractive young ensign. Despite the direness of the situation, they talk in a reasonably lighthearted fashion.

"So aren't you actually too young to be a commander?" Ensign Murphy asks.

Tony takes a wrong step, groans in pain, and shifts a bit more of his weight onto her shoulder. "Well... Q certainly had some influence there." He sets up his most winning smile through the pain. "From cadet to commander in roughly one year. Even someone as charming as you can't do that."

Ensign Murphy smiles politely but doesn't respond to Tony's sudden outbreak of testosterone...

"And now that every member of the Q Continuum has abandoned me, I'm a vulnerable, fragile human once again." Tony can't disguise the sudden bitterness in his voice.

To keep the conversation from going sour, Ensign Murphy quickly decides to change subjects. "I haven't seen any other living Starfleet officers yet. Where are they?"

"I have no idea. I'm honestly more concerned about any Altonoid officers..." Tony smirks and he looks into the deep brown eyes of Emily Murphy long enough for her to look away shyly. Tony coughs apologetically and looks ahead again. Somehow, they look back at each other at the exact same moment, making them smile.

"So, what class—" Tony says, but he can't finish his sentence, because Ensign Murphy sees a shadow moving across the corridor and pushes Tony Q away to grab her phaser rifle. With his current injuries, Cmdr. Tony Q can't stand on his own feet and he smashes against the bulkhead next to him. After bouncing off the bulkhead, Tony slowly collapses on the floor while emitting a long moan.

Ensign Murphy sees that the shadow belongs to a broken conduit and she lowers her rifle. When she sees Tony lying on the ground and clutching his head, she realizes what she has done and quickly tries to get him back on his feet—without much success. "Oh. I'm terribly sorry! But you see, I had to knock you away. Because I thought... I'm so sorry, Commander."

"Show's over. Moving on," Tony says as he tries to decide which of the six apologetic ensigns he should address. The whole corridor seems to be part of a frenzied merry-go-round.

"I'm really sorry!" Ensign Murphy keeps apologizing while she places her arms under Tony Q's armpits in an attempt to get Tony standing again—a rather awkward sight.

Emily manages to put Tony's arm around her neck. As he gradually comes back to his senses, he sighs, "Suddenly I'm beginning to understand why you're still an ensign."

In spite of Tony's sarcasm, Emily replies with a sweet smile instead of the expected scowl. Tony returns the smile. He wishes he could just stay mad at her for a little while longer, but he realizes that's not going to happen. Carefully, they continue their journey through the corridors.

* * *

Captain Rinckes has obviously had to face a few more Altonoids. His uniform is torn in places, there are marks on his face and hands, and his knuckles are red from all of the fighting. The ongoing rush of adrenaline, which is on the verge of wearing out, prevents him from feeling any pain at the moment. Silently, he reaches a wall panel and accesses it. The upper right corner of the LCARS panel catches his eye. It's a simple display of day and time, and it reads:

THURSDAY - 2045 HOURS.

"Has it only been that long?" Captain Rinckes whispers to himself. "It seems decades ago the Altonoids took over the station. It seems decades ago I was with Melanie..."

His pondering look reverts to a determined one as he focuses on the wall panel. He taps in several commands and the panel shows him the schematics of the section he's in. His index finger scrolls across the cold tripolymer interface, from his current whereabouts to a square chamber that has "OBSERVATION LOUNGE" written inside of it. His fingers tap the display a few times because he has found what he was looking for. He remembers what the Altonoid had said to him, and he softly echoes his words. "She was last seen in the observation lounge of this deck. But you're too late anyway. I already called for backup."

The wall panels in the immediate area light up and show him which route to take to get to his destination. Rinckes doesn't hesitate for one second and walks off while his eyes narrow and his grip around the phaser rifle tightens.

* * *

Commander Tony Q and Ensign Emily Murphy are still traveling through the corridors. After some time has passed, Emily says, "We're sure lucky not to have encountered any Altonoids yet."

At that precise moment, a shadow moves across the corridor once again. Definitely humanoid-shaped this time!

"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Tony Q remarks sullenly as Emily sets him down on the ground—notably gentler than the last time. She points her rifle at the end of the corridor and is greeted by the barrel of a similar rifle. It's being held by a Starfleet security officer! He seems to be in the same bad shape as everyone is after they've spent some time on this station; his hair is a sweaty mess, his uniform is battle-worn, and his brown, weary eyes convey tiredness.

Ensign Murphy lowers her rifle and sighs in relief as the friendly contact approaches. "You spooked me there, Lieutenant...?"

"Lieutenant Jarod Moore. USS Sundance." The rugged-looking lieutenant speaks swiftly, as if he has said these words too many times already.

"And I am Ensign Emily C. Murphy. USS Kennedy."

Lt. Moore points at Cmdr. Tony Q, who lies there tucked away in the corner. "Is that kid in need of medical attention?"

"Kid? You're calling me a kid?" Tony snaps.

"Wow. Cranky," Lt. Moore says to Ensign Murphy.

Murphy rolls her eyes and smiles. "You have no idea."

Tony shakes his head.

"This is a dangerous section of the station. In your condition, I suggest you leave," Lt. Moore says while he crouches down next to Tony Q and starts examining his wound superficially.

"Lieutenant, don't worry about us. We were already heading for the shuttlebay," Tony Q replies.

"Good. That phaser wound appears to be stable for now, but it will require surgery sooner or later," Jarod says without looking the commander in the eyes, and he stands up. "At the moment, however, transporting the wounded isn't our ships' main priority."

"Yep. They're still fighting those Altonoids, no doubt," Tony Q says. "Well, we've got some good ships. You're from the Sundance, you said? I bet your ship is packing quite a wallop out there." Tony forces a smile.

Lt. Moore doesn't smile at all, for obvious reasons. "Didn't you know? The USS Sundance has been lost with all hands."

That unexpected bit of news stuns Tony Q and Ensign Murphy for a moment.

"We've lost the Satellite too," Lt. Moore continues.

Tony hesitates briefly before asking, "And the Kennedy?"

"She's been crippled. Severely damaged. Though the Sundance's last report said she's still fighting. So is the USS Wolf."

Emily and especially Tony need some time to absorb this information. "What about the Altonoids?" Ensign Murphy asks.

"The way things stand now, the Altonoids have a good chance of winning the space battle. And I don't have exact numbers, but this station is swarming with Altonoids."

"I had hoped we were on the winning side..." Tony says after a short silence.

"We won't give up, that's for sure. These Altonoids killed many men and women today, and who knows what they'll do after this. They must be stopped." Lt. Moore looks away for a brief moment before saying, "I was the leader of squad 8-Beta, with the emphasis on was. I was responsible for them, but I couldn't help but watch them perish one by one while we fought alongside." He chuckles joylessly. "They relied on my guidance... I tried to be as strategic as possible, but there were too many Altonoids." He shakes his head.

"I'm sure you did the best you could," Emily says comfortingly.

"All right, I won't lie to you," Jarod says with determination flooding back into his speech. "The situation is bad, both here and outside the station. But I swear to you that we won't give up! We will have to end all of this, or many other innocent people will die too."

A short silence.

"I'm afraid I won't be of much help," Tony sighs as he points at his phaser wound. He's still sitting on the floor.

Lt. Moore gives the young, wounded commander a long look and suddenly recognizes him. "Wait a minute. You're Commander Tony Q, right?"

"The one and only," Tony replies without any trace of enthusiasm. Being such a young high-ranking officer and becoming a Q doesn't occur without anyone noticing. However, right now, he thinks being "famous" is a hindrance rather than a blessing.

"I don't understand. You're a Q, so you have the power to make things right."

"I'm sorry. I can't," Tony sighs. "I wanted to help the Federation, but I had to give up my powers and immortality in the process." He points at his phaser wound. "That is what happened."

"Then I'd say you've already helped us more than we could've asked of you," Lt. Moore says. He ponders his next words for a moment. "Go. Get out of this place. Your battle is over for now."

Ensign Emily Murphy lifts Tony back on his feet again. Lt. Moore can see the pain in Tony's eyes. Not only the pain of the wound, but the fact that Tony is wounded. Tony puts his arm around Emily's shoulder and she supports most of his weight again.

"What about you, Lieutenant?" Ensign Murphy asks.

"Don't worry about me," he replies with a polite smile. And with that, he readies his rifle and walks the other way without looking back.

Ensign Emily Murphy and Commander Tony Q silently continue their journey to the shuttlebay.

* * *

A few decks away, Captain Rinckes walks through the corridors, past the wall panels that point him to his destination. There it is. There's the door that leads to the observation lounge of this deck. Captain Rinckes rushes toward it, forgetting all the combat tactics he has learned over the years. He's so tired, but his hopes of finding Commander Melanie Simons are increasing every step of the way.

The door opens and he runs into the observation lounge, which is only slightly smaller than Station A-12's conference room and provides a similar view of the battling starships. His eyes search the room for a brief moment. There's been a firefight in here, no doubt about it. Tables and chairs have been overturned, phaser marks stain the walls and furniture, and he spots at least five dead Altonoids with various fatal injuries.

Then he sees her... She lies there in the shattered glass of a cupboard that held many golden starship models. Now most golden models lie scattered on the floor. Silent and still, Melanie faces the window, which displays the battle raging on in cold space. Captain Rinckes couldn't care less about the battle right now; he rushes over to the motionless commander. Before he reaches her, he notices there's a huge phaser wound covering most of her upper body. The mere sight of it stops him dead in his tracks. The wound looks so extensive it just has to be fatal.

"No..." Rinckes whispers. He drops his rifle, rushes toward her again, and crouches down beside her. Shards of glass stab him in the hands and legs, but he couldn't give a damn. He touches her blonde hair tenderly and pushes it aside, revealing her face. The touch causes Melanie Simons to open her eyes a little. "Melanie!" Rinckes exclaims in a strange mixture of despair and relief.

"Captain..." she whispers.

"My God. What happened?" Captain Rinckes asks. He doesn't wait for a response. "I'll get you to sickbay. Don't worry. Everything will be fine." But when he looks into the eyes of the woman he loves, he sees his own lies reflected back at him.

Melanie slowly shakes her head. "No, Captain."

Momentarily at a loss for words, Stephan Rinckes lifts her up slightly and holds her in his arms. She feels alarmingly cold. "Melanie. Please... don't give up. We'll get you back to the Su... to the ship," he says with growing desperation in his voice, realizing midway that he has lost his ship already.

"Take good care of the Sundance for me, will you?" Melanie whispers. She's struggling to keep her eyes open.

Though giving up is the last thing he wants to do, Rinckes is forced to draw the bitter conclusion that he's losing her, and time is running out. This will be his last chance to talk to her. He has to tell her he loves her. He summons all his inner strength and whispers in a broken voice, "Melanie, I..." He can't say it. Every fiber of his being compels him to say it, but he simply finds himself unable to tell her how he feels. He forces his trembling lips into a smile. "I will..." A false promise already broken instead of those three simple words that are now destined to remain unspoken.

He watches the life drain from Melanie's blue eyes until they're reduced to an empty stare. Her head tilts back and, gently, her captain releases his grip and places her on the floor.

Stephan Rinckes is shattered. There's nothing he can do. He can't even tell her he loves her anymore; that time has come and gone. The only person in this universe that he really cared about has been taken from him... He wants to cry so hard. He wants to lay himself down next to her and die here, with her. Already, tears are forming in his eyes and feelings of loss and hopelessness distort the sharp features of his face.

Suddenly, the tears stop flowing and his expression goes blank, just completely blank. Captain Rinckes takes off his uniform jacket—revealing his red captain's shirt—and uses it to cover Melanie's face and torso. He stands up, silently retraces his steps, and collects his phaser rifle. Without looking back, he walks out of the room and away from the woman he once loved. No expression at all on his face.

* * *

The once so sterile bridge of the Akira-class USS Wolf is dark and damaged almost beyond any hope of repair. Multiple workstations are no longer functioning, and many bridge crew members are either unconscious or dead. Someone should move them off the bridge, but staying focused on the current battle is of higher importance.

The entire weapon pod exploded a while back, which had quite a significant impact on the structural integrity. Now, the entire ship shudders and shakes with every maneuver. The Altonoids' phaser beams keep scorching the Wolf's hull in a relentless effort to exploit any catastrophic weaknesses. Luckily, the Kennedy is still around. Every once in a while, she manages to draw away fire, but she's weakening just like the Wolf.

Captain Suzan Reynolds tries to walk over the continuously shaking floor to stand near the Swedish Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson at his tactical station. This way she can actually hear what he's saying with all that rumbling of ship components going on. And that hissing EPS conduit next to her captain's chair isn't helping either... Lt. Cmdr. Anderson's tactical station isn't exactly working at prime efficiency anymore, but he has rerouted most functions to one of the few panels that are still operational. He has also configured his station to receive any incoming engineering reports because the remains of the engineering workstation on the other side of the bridge lie scattered over the floor.

The tall Captain Reynolds gives Lt. Cmdr. Anderson an inquiring look. As if telepathically linked, Anderson has his report ready. "Our engines are back to twenty-two percent efficiency. Whenever we restore a part of the shields, an attack from those Altonoids depletes them immediately. Hull integrity is down to eleven percent, but I've rerouted power from the empty torpedo bays to the structural integrity field. Phasers are operational, though I—" He can't finish his elaborate damage report because the four Altonoid phaser beams hit a weak spot—one of many by now—and the bridge shudders violently.

Chief Helmsman Lieutenant Stephanie Grant tries every evasive maneuver in the book and some extra she makes up on the spot. Despite her brilliant evasive actions (which are currently even more difficult to perform due to the weakened engines), the phaser beams just keep pounding the hull of the USS Wolf.

For a moment, the USS Kennedy becomes visible on the viewscreen. The battle has clearly taken its toll on the large Sovereign-class ship. Captain Reynolds moves to the front of the shaking, dark bridge again and sees that the proud but wounded Kennedy has suffered hull breaches that are clearly detectable even from this distance. "Divert more power to the phaser arrays and keep firing at the Massal with everything we've got!" she orders Commander Anderson. "We might buy the Kennedy a bit more repair time." She realizes this may not make much of a difference, but she sure as hell won't give up!

"We can't keep them off their backs forever!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts.

Captain Reynolds acknowledges him with a quick nod.

The four phaser beams hammer the impulse engines of the USS Wolf, right until Lt. Grant moves the engines out of their devastating reach. The Massal immediately directs its attention to the USS Kennedy, which is hanging motionlessly in space now that its engines have suffered major damage.

* * *

The bridge of the USS Kennedy would be darker than ever, if its starboard side wasn't partially on fire. The few engineers who were busy repairing the bridge are now busy trying to extinguish the flames. The other four bridge crew members (the Vulcan Lt. Sivar on the captain's chair, Ensign Parkin behind the tactical station, and Lieutenants Malin and Muntenaar in front of the bridge) all have suffered scratches and bruises.

The Massal has directed its phaser beams at the Kennedy, and with the absence of shielding, the phaser beams inflict serious damage in little time, causing the bridge to rumble and shake excessively. Without warning, the ops console blows up in Lieutenant Muntenaar's face! Muntenaar is tossed backward and lands in the nearby fire!

The blonde Trill Lt. Malin has managed to hold on to her station despite the close-proximity blast. "Are you all right?!" she screams while she looks back.

Lieutenant Muntenaar finds himself surrounded by searing-hot flames. Quickly, he gathers all his strength, stands up, and throws himself away from the fire. After a few frantic rolls on the floor, he gets rid of any residual flames. There are burn marks on his face and hands, but he realizes it could've been much worse.

Suddenly, the Massal stops firing. The bridge is still shaking mildly, but the awful noise of phasers versus hull plating is gone. Now, equally unsettling sounds caused by the failing structural integrity become audible.

"Miss Malin, are the engines still inoperable?" Lt. Sivar asks, while Lieutenant Muntenaar stands up carefully with the help of a nearby engineer.

"Yes, sir," Malin replies. "Engines and thrusters are down."

"What is the status of our weaponry, Ensign?" Sivar asks Ensign Parkin.

"That last hit took out our phasers, and from our current angle we can't fire torpedoes," the young ensign replies.

Lieutenant Sivar turns to ask the engineers about the status of repairs, but he decides not to ask them anything because they're still struggling with the fire that seems to be the only light source on the bridge, apart from the few LCARS displays that are still working. Besides, his dark Vulcan eyes are drawn to the viewscreen as he sees that the Massal's phaser wires are flickering on and off again, which signifies that they're about to launch another massive phaser strike. Everyone drops what they're doing and looks at the viewscreen. Not with amazement or fear. No, with acknowledgement.

* * *

The bridge crew of the Wolf can see it too. There just seems to be no stopping that Massal. Captain Reynolds has seated herself in the captain's chair once again, and she wants to say something, but nobody can hear her due to the broken, hissing EPS conduit next to her. She gets fed up with it, stands up, rips out the remains of the conduit, crushes it, stuffs it back (effectively stopping the hissing), and sits down with a thud. "Right," she says as she pushes some hair from her face. Lit by the flickering light coming from the Altonoid phaser wires, most of the surviving bridge crew members have to smile, if just for a moment.

"Who's being targeted this time?" Reynolds asks.

"The Kennedy, ma'am," Ensign Mick Daniels replies.

"She ain't going anywhere?"

"Her engines are still down."

A short silence. Captain Reynolds thinks, while all members of the bridge crew hold their breath. A determined grimace appears on her face, and she orders, "Lieutenant Grant, position our ship between the Massal and the Kennedy."

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shakes his head and says firmly, "We will not survive another phaser hit like that."

"Neither will they," Lt. Stephanie Grant says in a gentle voice as she looks at the viewscreen, which shows the severely damaged USS Kennedy. "I understand, Captain. We might buy the Kennedy some time. It's our only hope."

Reynolds gives Lt. Grant an appreciative smile before ordering, "Divert more power to the engines. Move us into position." As the weakened engines push the ship into forward motion, Captain Reynolds sighs deeply and says to herself, "I never thought I'd be doing this more than once a day..."

* * *

On the bridge of the USS Kennedy, the Wolf eclipses the sight of the Massal in much the same way the Satellite did right before she was destroyed.

"The USS Wolf is forming a buffer between us and the Altonoid ship," Lt. Malin says with a touch of pride in her voice.

"That is exceptionally courageous of Captain Reynolds," Lt. Sivar says. "I see what she is attempting to accomplish by performing this maneuver. She is buying us time."

"We must prioritize repairs," Lt. Muntenaar says. Despite having suffered painful second-degree burns on his face and hands, he has suppressed the urge to just give up on the situation and report to sickbay. In fact, he has taken over and rerouted the engineering station, now that his ops console is gone. "We need to get the engines back online, or the Wolf's sacrifice will be in vain."

"Exactly," Sivar says. He opens a comm channel. "This is acting Captain Sivar to Commander Soete—"

"The Massal is engaging tractor beam!" Lt. Muntenaar shouts.

Lt. Sivar lifts an eyebrow.

* * *

The Massal stops powering up its phaser array and sends out a tractor beam instead. It sears through space, locks on to the saucer of the USS Wolf, and mercilessly pushes the Wolf to starboard with tremendous force, causing the bridge to shake even more violently. To the bridge crew, it feels like they're in the middle of a city-shattering earthquake. Several consoles and wall panels explode, and a few of the bridge's bulkheads rupture.

"All power to the structural integrity field!" Captain Reynolds shouts as she stands up on the shaking bridge.

The Wolf spins out of control and simply gets shoved away from the Kennedy. Because of the missing weapon pod, the warp engine pylons bend dangerously. By some miracle, what remains of the structural integrity field keeps them from breaking off altogether.

After the powerful tractor beam has done its job, it releases the Akira-class vessel. "Compensate! All power to the engines!" Captain Reynolds shouts.

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson interprets the jumble of data coming from his damaged workstation and yells, "The ship is moving too fast. The engines aren't in the condition to counteract!"

"Reroute power from wherever you can find it and fix those cursed engines!" Reynolds replies. The Wolf keeps spinning away from the Kennedy and the Massal, while the phaser system of the Altonoids starts powering up again. Captain Reynolds looks at the Kennedy and sighs. "Good luck, Sivar."

* * *

Once again, the ominous, erratic light coming from the phaser wires is lighting the bridge of the Kennedy. The ongoing fire near the starboard consoles provides the finishing touch to the bridge's undeniably hellish appearance.

"The Wolf messages us that they're sorry..." Lt. Muntenaar reports. Now that his hopes of survival have been crushed, the agony caused by his second-degree burns is beginning to slip into his conscious mind. So be it, he thinks. I'm not leaving my post. No matter what.

"Helm is still not responding," Lt. Malin says with growing agitation in her voice.

Like moths drawn to a flame, everyone watches the light coming from the Massal's phaser system as it increases in intensity.

"Ensign Parkin," Lt. Sivar says. "Is there any way we can break off their attack?"

The tall Ensign Parkin shakes his head sadly. "I'm sorry, sir. Phasers are still out."

"Noted, Ensign." Lieutenant Sivar presses the comm button on his chair. "This is acting Captain Sivar to engineering."

No response. The streaks of light keep moving faster and faster.

"How long do we have left?" Lt. Sivar asks the wounded Lt. Muntenaar.

"I can't tell. Sensor readings are garbled. I just don't know. Seconds, maybe."

Sivar presses the comm button again. "Sivar to Soeteman. It is imperative that we get our engines operational again." There's no reply. "Engineering, report." Sivar's voice is starting to sound urgent, but there's still no response.

The lights coming from the phaser wires start connecting with each other. Very soon, the Massal will unleash its most powerful phaser strike on the helpless Kennedy.

"Engineering?" Sivar looks up at the viewscreen and sees all the streaks of light bundling together to form one huge phaser beam. Then, Sivar sighs deeply and, for the first time in his life, says, "Damn."

* * *

The massive phaser beam races toward the Kennedy and hits her engineering section dead-on. That part of the ship is already severely damaged and the phaser beam slices right through it, rams its way through several decks, and comes out on the other side!

The devastation it leaves behind is immeasurable. The sheer power of the phaser beam and the resulting explosions, combined with the failing hull integrity, is too much to handle for the dying Kennedy. As if being ripped in two by an unseen force, the saucer tears free of the stardrive section. All lights on both parts of the ship dim as the two parts (each still several hundred meters in length) start rotating away from each other.

The stardrive section, which still contains enough structural integrity to hold both warp engines together, strays from the saucer of the Kennedy while rotating backward.

One look at that stardrive section makes it clear that nobody in there could've survived...

Hundreds of broken corridors, Jefferies tubes, and conduits suddenly become exposed to open space, and many sections shed whatever is left of their hull plating. A turbolift that was moving through the ship gets sucked into space and gets added to the large field of debris and dead crew members that is forming between the two parts of the ship. Many corridors and crawlways that are now exposed look as if they already had a lot to endure, which reveals how damaged the ship was even before it cracked in two.

The saucer section looks just as bad, if not worse. With all its lights dimmed, the saucer looks very macabre as it rotates forward in dramatic silence. All its decks are either collapsing or on fire. Essentially, it has become a death trap for all those who are unlucky enough to be caught inside.

* * *

The conference room's large window provides a painful panorama of the Kennedy's destruction. Admiral Van Aken, Commander Levine, and especially Captain Duvivier and Commander Jansen find it almost unbearable having to watch this horrendous spectacle unfold before them. Despite a warning from an Altonoid guard, Captain Mathieu Duvivier stands up to have a better look at the last thing he ever wanted to see: the USS Kennedy defeated, destroyed.

The scorched saucer keeps turning end over end, floating away in silence. Suddenly, explosions occur all over the saucer and fight their way out of its remains, taking the outer hull along with them. Within moments, the saucer of the Kennedy blows up in one final, gigantic explosion, causing all debris to scatter away in one big shockwave.

The USS Kennedy is no more.

It's very silent in the conference room of Station A-12.

Captain Duvivier looks at the remains of what used to be one of the Federation's finest starships, one of the most beautiful and powerful ships Starfleet has ever constructed, a ship that held over seven hundred crew members. "My ship," he gasps incredulously while he stumbles toward the large window. "My crew."

Letor Fune smiles. "Oh, the pain of losing one's vessel," he sneers melodramatically.

Captain Duvivier feels his face flush with anger, but somehow he manages to stay calm.

"It always relaxes me to see a Federation starship destroyed. A lot less Starfleet officers to worry about," Fune continues.

That last remark hits hard, and Duvivier can't restrain his feelings of hatred anymore. "You loathsome bastard!" He turns to face the man responsible for the Kennedy's demise. "You sickening piece of lowlife!" Threateningly, he moves toward the smirking Fune.

Admiral Van Aken shakes his head at Captain Duvivier, worried that the captain might do something that could aggravate the situation even further. After all, tragic as the Kennedy's loss may be, it's the Altonoids who are holding all the guns at the moment.

Captain Duvivier hesitates. He looks from Admiral Van Aken to the proud Altonoid in front of him. When Duvivier looks to his left and right, he sees that several armed guards have closed in on him.

"Perhaps it would be better if you sat down," Letor Fune says. "The battle will soon be over anyway, so we'll be able to continue our work."

"Your work? You call taking innocent lives your work?!" Captain Duvivier clenches his right fist, more than willing to take the Altonoid leader down, despite the fact that they are surrounded by guards.

Letor Fune laughs a short, fake laugh, and quickly turns serious again. "Sit down."

After summoning all the self-control he has left, Duvivier slowly walks over to the other three Starfleet officers and sits down next to his first officer, Commander Jansen, who gives his captain a worried glance. The captain ignores him and stares dejectedly at the floor.

"We are reading no life signs on the wreckages. No escape pods have been launched," the Altonoid near the wall display says. "They're all dead."

"Our colleagues. Our friends," Captain Duvivier whispers to himself.

"The USS Wolf is not moving to intercept our warship. She isn't fleeing the scene either."

"They can't escape anyway," Letor Fune says. "Nor can any of you." He addresses the four officers directly.

"What about Commander Simons and Captain Rinckes?" the blonde Texan Cmdr. Levine says defiantly. "You still can't find them."

"All those officers and families living on this station couldn't find us either," Letor Fune says. "But we certainly found them!" He laughs, making him the only one laughing in the entire room.

After a beat of awkward silence, the red-haired Admiral Van Aken uses a subtle cough to indicate he's about to speak up. "Fune," he says calmly. "Since we aren't going anywhere, why don't you tell us what you've done to the station's crew? Have you killed them too? Are they being imprisoned somewhere?"

"Why should I tell you? You're not in the position to ask any questions, Admiral," Fune replies. "I can tell you, however, that it took some great planning, but everything turned out all right—for us." He lets his word linger in the room for a while before continuing in an unpleasantly playful tone. "You really fell flat on your faces, didn't you?" He walks closer to the four.

Admiral Van Aken says nothing, prompting the arrogant Letor Fune to continue his mocking speech. "The Altonoids want another diplomatic meeting with us. Sure, let's give them another chance." Sarcasm drips from Fune's voice. "You are so predictable!" He pauses to think, all the while regaining his seriousness. "For the Federation, this will be the first major defeat of many. For us it's just a way to test two different kinds of prototypes during this small battle and the battle against your so-called mighty fleet you've tried to keep hidden just outside of sensor range."

He sees four quizzical looks in front of him.

"Yes, that's right. The backup fleet," Fune says. "Another display of your mistrust and deviousness."

"I'm not even inclined to talk about that," Admiral Van Aken says not quite as convincingly as intended.

"Then you wouldn't be interested in hearing what's holding them up, right? Well, to put it simply: we are." Letor Fune turns to face the window again to give the stars and the two remaining starships a pondering look. "You invaded our space several years ago." He raises his eyebrows as if what he's about to say is so simple that it speaks for itself. "Now... you will have to pay the price. The Alto Empire will not be pushed aside again."

"We didn't invade your space," Admiral Van Aken says. He's having a fair bit of trouble speaking calmly, but he succeeds nonetheless. "We are explorers. We were hoping to meet a new race and learn from them. Learn from you. That's our primary goal: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations."

"We've heard that many times before," Fune replies. After a deep sigh, he turns to face the four officers and speaks his mind. "Forty years ago, the Romulans pretended to be just like you."

"Letor Fune, we are not allowed to discuss this with outsiders," one of his subordinates says.

"I determine what's allowed and what's not!" Fune snaps at him. "It's time we confront them with the truth!"

The embarrassed Altonoid swallows his words and looks away.

"The Romulans," Fune continues. "'We come in peace.' Sure... we welcomed them with open arms. Quickly enough, their real intentions became clear. They harvested our planet's rich resources, enslaved many Altonoids... But we learned our lesson well. We fought back so hard that they offered some of their technology in trade of a treaty that made us never interfere with each other again. However, the damage was done. We, as a people, were devastated. So was our home planet. You can still see the scars on her surface. You didn't know about all this, did you, Admiral?"

Admiral Van Aken remains silent, but he does not avert his gaze.

Commander Jansen leans closer to Captain Duvivier and whispers, "Even Commander Soeteman never told us this, and he must've known." He tried to whisper as softly as possible, but his words were loud enough to be overheard by Commander Levine.

"It explains why the Romulans never wanted to have anything to do with our negotiations with the Altonoids," Dennis Levine whispers back.

Letor Fune is too absorbed in his monologue to hear them. "We won't allow this to happen again. We know the likes of you. You're not explorers. You're just like the Romulans," Fune scoffs. With a challenging glance, he awaits the admiral's response.

The admiral doesn't keep him waiting. "We never intended to cause hostile relations. In fact, we arranged many diplomatic meetings, many leaps of faith. And every single time you attacked us. If you had taken the time to do more research, you would know that the Federation is very different from the Romulans. I admit, our efforts to reach out to new civilizations and to gain more knowledge have enabled us to make a few regrettable mistakes. These past few decades have been filled with wars we did not start, did not want, but happened anyway. And, yes, in order to protect ourselves we have had to make some very tough decisions."

Admiral Van Aken stands up to look Fune directly in the eye. "But these mistakes and these tragedies have always given us the opportunity to improve ourselves, to become better persons, and to grow as a group of humans, Vulcans, Andorians, all sentient beings alike. If you'd really know us, like you claim you do, you would be absolutely convinced that our intentions are benign."

For a moment, Fune ponders the admiral's words, and Van Aken is almost given the impression that he's dealing with a reasonable, if not a bit misguided, fellow army man. The bubble of hope bursts quickly, though. "No. We know better!" Fune shouts, smiling broadly. "All those diplomatic meetings were just desperate attempts to make us believe in your 'peaceful' United Federation of Planets." The broad smile disappears quickly and his words, though still spoken in a booming voice, turn ice-cold. "We know better. We won't let anyone take advantage of us again!" These loud words echo through the room for a few seconds. "We've turned the tables."

"Yes, you have," Admiral Van Aken says matter-of-factly. "Now you are the Romulans."

A brief, painful silence.

Fune does not accept defeat. "You're just too stubborn to admit that we know exactly how you're thinking! The 'righteous' Federation. Please... I'm on to you. We all are. You're just as stubborn as your troops. I mean... This battle being fought today. Hopeless... Your men are seriously outnumbered and every report we hear gives us more and more reason to believe we will win this battle. And yet you persist in fighting us. What's the point?"

"Tell me. How did you drive away the Romulans from your home planet?" Admiral Van Aken asks fiercely. "By giving up at the first sign of trouble?"

Fune ignores the questions. "First we'll take Station A-12 and every other starbase, station, and outpost we come across. We will exterminate all life on your planets. We'll make sure you'll never unleash your evil plans upon us. The Alto Empire will never be messed with again!" This time, the Altonoids that surround him do not miss their cue and they all start cheering in a moment of chauvinistic pride.

While sporting a haughty smile, Fune walks over to Admiral Van Aken and halts mere inches away from him. "So now you tell me, Admiral. How does it feel? How does it feel to have everything you stand for, everything you believe in, come crashing down upon you?"

Admiral Van Aken doesn't bother to respond.


	7. Chapter 7

A seemingly ever-growing horde of Altonoids chases after Lieutenant Steven Appels and Doctor Rose van Oers as they run through the corridors of Station A-12. In a desperate effort to lose them, the two officers rush into the nearest turbolift. Lt. Appels immediately concentrates on getting the turbolift to the right section of the station, although he's not sure where that "right section" may be exactly. Dr. Van Oers watches the turbolift doors close in front of her and the lieutenant. They're leaving behind a lot of very disappointed Altonoids.

"All right," the short, muscular Lt. Appels says while he studies the turbolift's LCARS display. "According to the specifications of this type of station, another possible hiding place for the shield array might be located on the lower decks. And it's likely to be the only place safe enough for us to continue our search."

Even though Appels speaks to himself rather than the doctor, she listens carefully.

"It's also likely that most surviving crew members and troops would have headed there to regroup. That would mean that going to deck..." He quickly types in a few queries and watches the results appear on the little LCARS panel. "...97 would be a tactically sound idea. Don't you agree?" Finally, he faces Doctor Van Oers. However, before she can formulate a reply, he turns to the LCARS panel again. "But what section holds the least Altonoids? If we'd take into account that—"

"Steven?" Rose van Oers interjects in a very polite voice.

"What?"

"I'm not saying we should give up, but didn't we just see a display showing the space battle?"

Lt. Appels nods. He forgets about the schematics for a moment and lets out a deep sigh. "Shame about our ship..."

"If we somehow disabled the shield array, which is unlikely because the entire station is completely swarming with Altonoids, will the Wolf still be there to beam up the flag officers? And assuming the Wolf still exists by then, can the flag officers really make a difference?"

"You think I haven't considered those possibilities yet?" Lt. Appels asks.

Before Appels can elaborate, the doctor interrupts him. "I understand completely," she reassures him. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere without you."

Lt. Appels smiles. "After all, I am your last remaining patient."

Dr. Van Oers returns a faint smile, and she looks around in the turbolift. This is all that's left of their security squad. Most other squads probably didn't fare any better... She feels bad about abandoning Commander Tony Q and Ensign Marc Lucas, but she didn't have a choice; they were too wounded to continue.

The turbolift has reached its destination, and the doctor realizes that her somber thoughts will have to wait until after all of this is over. The doors open and reveal a completely empty corridor that appears to be darker than most other areas on this station. It's clear to see that these corridors are mainly designated for maintenance and engineering, which has resulted in a less comfortable look. To name a few differences: the bulkhead plating is darker gray and the corridors are narrower. All in all, it doesn't look very welcoming.

Lt. Appels readies his rifle even though the corridor is empty. It may look safe, but you can never be too sure of anything on this station. He and Dr. Van Oers slowly exit the turbolift.

Suddenly, from the left, an Altonoid appears in front of the doctor and knocks her phaser rifle out of her hands! She raises her arms in a reflex to protect herself. Before she can be harmed, though, Lt. Appels shoots the Altonoid from close to point-blank range. The Altonoid flies backward for a good ten feet before landing on the floor. Now that the assailant has been silenced, the sound of approaching footsteps becomes alarmingly obvious.

Lt. Appels runs off immediately and drags Dr. Van Oers along with him. The doctor tries to pick up her phaser rifle, but Appels doesn't give her a chance. He clenches his fist tightly around her arm as they make a run for the door at the end of the corridor.

They don't get very far before they hear voices say, "Kuret's been shot!"

"Then there are still some Starfleet officers left!"

Now that he's sure the doctor is just as focused on reaching that door as he is, Lt. Appels lets go of her arm. They'll need to run faster than ever before if they want to make it out of here alive.

Three Altonoids appear near the turbolift and spot the two fleeing officers, who have already traveled half the corridor. The two outer Altonoids crouch down, while the center Altonoid remains standing. In silent efficiency, they aim their battle-worn rifles at the fleeing officers' backs. This corridor contains no bends, intersections, or corners. There's no hiding, no turning back, no looking back.

Lt. Appels shoots the LCARS display next to the door and a series of sparks confirms that he has hit his target. Quite some precision shooting, considering he's running like hell. It does slow him down a bit, but the door in front of them opens.

They're only forty feet away from the open door.

Thirty... The Altonoids open fire.

Twenty feet... Phaser blasts light the dark corridor and tear off pieces of bulkhead plating and LCARS wall panels around them.

Just ten feet to go...

There! They made it.

Dr. Van Oers immediately hides behind the protruding bulkhead to the left of the doorway. She knows the door has to be closed as soon as possible. The Altonoids are coming to get them. But it's all right; they'll have to get past Lt. Appels first, and he'll probably have the door closed soon or he'll come up with some other "tactically sound idea." She looks at the other side of the doorway, where Appels should be hiding. Instead, she sees him lying on the floor with a smoking phaser wound on his back!

"Steven!" she shouts. Lt. Appels doesn't respond, but he is still breathing. Frustratingly enough, he's lying there in plain view for the Altonoids and there is nothing the doctor can do for him right now.

A startlingly nearby voice breaks the silence. "Good. One down. We've got to find that female."

For a terrifying moment, she doesn't know what to do. Then she spots Steven's phaser rifle lying right next to him. After summoning all her courage and collecting her strength, she makes a wild dash for the rifle, picks it up, jumps over Lt. Appels, and lands behind the protruding bulkhead on the other side of the doorway. Immediately, she scrambles to her feet. She's managed to grab the rifle, and she wasn't killed in the process. So far, so good.

"There she is!" another voice says, even closer this time. She can hear the Altonoids running toward them. She'll have to act now. After taking a deep breath, she stands up straight and lifts her rifle. She waits for just a few moments, and then moves around the corner and away from her only protection against phaser fire.

She opens fire at the three Altonoids, employing the time-honored spray and pray tactic. The three running Altonoids literally get blown away by the many phaser shots and fall to the floor one by one. Well, if you shoot often enough, you're bound to hit something eventually... especially in such close quarters. The fact that she almost enjoyed shooting those Altonoids startles her a bit, even though she knows that the adrenaline rush associated with surviving a near-death encounter is the probable cause of her short-lived euphoria.

She directs her attention to Lt. Appels and crouches down beside the wounded officer. With shaking hands, she opens her medkit. However, try as she might, she can't find her medical tricorder. After a brief, frantic search, it dawns on her that she gave the tricorder to Ensign Lucas so he could mask his life signs. She'll have to try to treat the lieutenant's wound without it. "Steven, can you hear me?"

"Yes," Appels replies softly. "Some nice shooting, Doctor." Somehow, he manages to smile.

"So this is supposed to be the safest place on the station?" Dr. Van Oers asks, gesturing at the slain Altonoids.

"I don't think there are any safe places left." The fake smile is still on his face, but he speaks with an uncharacteristic and unsettling amount of gloom.

Across the corridor, another door opens and reveals several Altonoids. "They're still here!" one of them shouts.

Dr. Van Oers doesn't waste any more time. She quickly packs her medkit and straps it around her shoulder. Without any hesitation, she picks up the rifle and starts shooting at the Altonoids, who quickly find cover in several corners and doorways. "Plenty of hiding places in this part of the corridor," she softly mutters, while she seizes the small window of opportunity to start carrying Lt. Appels away.

"No, no," Appels says, though he can't put up much of a resistance with his current injuries.

Dr. Van Oers is planning to take him with her anyway. She tries to move him as carefully as the surrounding Altonoids allow and fires some more shots at their possible whereabouts to clear a path.

"No, Doctor. I'll only slow you down," Appels protests. "Go on without—"

"Oh shut up," Dr. Van Oers says as she drags him away from the enemy.

* * *

An explosion on the bridge of the USS Wolf knocks out the science station in a violent blast.

Science officer Ensign Daniels doesn't even try to evade the explosion, because a previous enemy phaser hit has already rendered him wounded and unconscious.

"Structural integrity down to—" Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson shouts, but the ongoing battle doesn't allow him to complete his report. The four Altonoid phaser beams strike one of the many weak spots on the hull of the Wolf, and the poor chief tactical officer almost gets knocked off his feet. As if that's not enough, a large wall panel gives up altogether, darkening the bridge even further.

"Keep performing evasive maneuvers!" Captain Suzan Reynolds orders while she holds on tightly to the captain's chair in a continuing effort to remain seated.

Lt. Stephanie Grant's helm station is burning partially, but the wounded lieutenant keeps performing her duty and keeps trying to make the ship dodge incoming phaser fire.

"Practically all systems are failing, Captain!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts. A part of the ceiling comes down only inches away from him. He doesn't seem to care. He wasn't hit, so he continues with his work. It's as if he's getting used to the bridge falling apart around him.

Captain Reynolds can't help but notice that the viewscreen's image quality is starting to deteriorate rapidly. If there's one thing she has learned over the years, it's that it's never a good sign when your viewscreen starts breaking down on you... However, there are more pressing matters to attend to. "Status of the Massal!"

Lt. Commander Anderson tries his best to provide his captain with the necessary info, but his console is working against him rather than for him.

"Status of the Massal!" she repeats.

Anderson manages to get one of the few phaser arrays that are still functioning to fire a phaser beam at the Massal. It's a direct hit, but it doesn't do much damage. "I haven't got a clue, Captain," he says. "But I'd say their paintwork is down to about... ninety percent?"

Captain Reynolds smiles. That smile disappears quickly when another phaser strike rocks the bridge.

* * *

Dr. Rose van Oers has dragged Lt. Appels into an empty maintenance corridor to take care of his serious phaser wound. Unfortunately, without a medical tricorder, there isn't a whole lot she can do for him. After sterilizing and superficially healing the wound with a dermal regenerator, she presses a preprogrammed hypospray against his neck. "This should take away some of the pain. It's all I can do for now."

Lt. Appels slowly and carefully sits up. He grimaces in pain, in spite of the heavy painkillers that have entered his bloodstream. "I have to say our security squad isn't quite as successful as I had hoped."

Dr. Van Oers doesn't react to his statement right away. After a brief pause, she asks. "So, are you thinking up a new tactical plan?"

"It's quite a lost cause, isn't it?" Lt. Appels replies. "There's one tactical plan I can come up with." He looks the doctor straight in her eyes. "Get the hell out of here."

Dr. Van Oers shakes her head. "Nah. I've already abandoned every one of my patients today. You're the last one left. Won't look good on my record."

"No, seriously," Lt. Appels says. "I want you to get out of here. I know when a battle is lost. It's only a matter of time. Get to the escape pods while you still can. It's your only shot."

"I think I'll take my chances here."

"Dammit, Rose. The Altonoids can barge in any second now. They were hot on our trail."

"You're in no condition to be left behind without medical attention," Dr. Van Oers states.

"That's bull. There's nothing you can do for me anymore. You said so yourself."

Dr. Van Oers remains undeterred. "I'm not leaving you behind."

"I'm the chief security officer of a Sovereign-class starship, or at least I used to be. I'm sure I'll do fine on my own."

"You're better off with me by your side."

"Yes. Until we both get shot by the first Altonoid who happens to find us. There's no hiding anymore." He considers his words for a moment, before saying, "I really thought we would be safe on these lower decks. Well I was wrong."

A brief pause. Dr. Van Oers isn't going anywhere.

"Rose. I'm ordering you to get the hell out of here."

The doctor evades his stare.

Unable to keep back his anger and frustration, Lt. Appels raises his voice. "It's not safe here or anywhere else on this damned station. Why won't you leave? For me? Don't! I'll do fine without you or anyone else! I'm just as much a lost cause as this entire ludicrous war!" Through the pain of his wound, he grabs the doctor by the arm. There's a pleading look in his eyes. "Get off this doomed station. Please. We've lost so much today. Don't you see? It's over. You can't save any more lives. You can only save your own."

A beat of silence.

Appels shakes his head in disbelief. He finds the doctor's unwillingness to respond to his rare display of emotion almost amusing. "Why won't you leave?" he asks softly.

"I've got nowhere to go, okay?" she replies while tears well up in her eyes. "Not by myself."

Appels doesn't know exactly how to respond. He's a security officer, not a counselor.

"You're right," Dr. Van Oers says. "The Altonoids are everywhere. I could try and make a run for it, find an escape pod. I could do it... but I'm scared."

"Well I'm scared too," Lt. Appels dares to admit. "This whole situation scares the hell out of me. Losing an entire squad, losing the Kennedy, Altonoids lurking around every corner. Yes, I'm scared."

"The great Lieutenant Appels... scared?" Dr. Van Oers smiles through the tears.

"Yes."

"Man, we must be in trouble for you to admit that."

"You bet."

"Listen." Dr. Van Oers wipes the tears from her eyes. "The Altonoids will eventually find you here. You're not going anywhere. They will shoot you on sight."

"No doubt..." Appels sighs.

"If I ran around in search of an escape pod, the chances of me actually reaching one would be slim at best."

"Yes," Appels says. His voice gains some strength despite his rapidly waning energy levels. "But you'll have a chance of making it."

"I know. But it's very likely that the Wolf will be gone by then."

"Still, you'll have a chance!"

"No, Steven," Dr. Van Oers says. A defiant twinkle in her eyes makes it absolutely clear that she has made up her mind. "And take your last chance with me? No, that's not going to happen."

"Doctor." He looks her deeply in the eyes with the look of a man who knows he's going to die soon. "Rose... They'll kill me anyway."

"They might. But they'll have to get past me first." Dr. Van Oers says and she lifts her rifle. "I'm not leaving you."

Lt. Appels wants to protest once more, but he smiles instead. "You'd make a damn fine security officer, you know that?"

Though she does her best to retain her defiant expression, she returns the smile and says, "I'll take that as a compliment."

* * *

Alongside their Altonoid captors, the four flag officers Admiral Van Aken, Commander Levine, Captain Duvivier, and Commander Jansen watch the space battle unfold from the protected confines of the conference room. With each enemy phaser strike that gnaws at the Wolf, their hope disintegrates even further. When the USS Wolf is critically hit and the starboard warp nacelle breaks off in a fiery display of destruction, the flag officers can't help but gasp and murmur.

"So, do you still believe in winning this battle?" Letor Fune asks rhetorically. The tall, proud Altonoid leader is most pleased with himself and the way this whole operation is going. After this glorious victory, his superiors will have no choice but to elevate him to a whole different status. If he can keep this up, he may one day become the supreme ruler of the Alto Empire. With an arrogant smile, he faces the Altonoid nearest to the wall panel and barks, "Operation report!"

That Altonoid has his report ready immediately. "We've taken almost every deck. All important systems are in our hands. We don't know exactly how many Starfleet troops are still at large, but reports indicate there are not many left."

"You see," Letor Fune says as he faces the flag officers after a brief glance at the practically crippled Wolf. "I wouldn't exactly call this fighting anymore."

"No. I believe this is called slaughtering innocent people," Commander Dennis Levine says sharply. The blond Texan has given up diplomacy altogether when it comes to dealing with this hardheaded Altonoid.

Letor Fune is eager to continue this discussion, but one of his younger subordinates interrupts him. "Sir. We've found and identified Commander Melanie Simons. Observation Lounge 54-6. She's dead, sir."

This bit of news shocks the flag officers and elicits more gasps and murmurs, though Captain Duvivier doesn't react right away. Ever since the Kennedy's destruction, he's been silent and contemplative. Therefore, it's somewhat unexpected that Captain Duvivier decides to use this moment to speak up again. "And what about Captain Rinckes?" he asks with surprising calmness.

The junior Altonoid looks at Letor Fune as if asking permission to answer the question. After a nod from Fune, the Altonoid says, "We haven't captured him yet."

"Then there still is hope," Captain Duvivier almost whispers. Commander Jansen frowns and looks at his captain, who continues in a soft voice, "If there's one officer capable of stopping all of this... it's him."

"You actually mean that?" Cmdr. Jansen asks. Captain Duvivier stares into the distance and nods. Letor Fune is just as surprised as Commander Jansen.

"Sir," the junior Altonoid says. "Commander Simons' body was found covered with a Starfleet uniform jacket."

Duvivier smiles subtly. "That's what I mean."

* * *

Doctor Van Oers hears footsteps closing in. Lieutenant Appels, who leans against a bulkhead, can barely move or react because his back wound has taken its toll on his energy.

* * *

"Do you actually think that one officer can make a difference?" Fune asks Captain Duvivier in the conference room.

* * *

Doctor Rose van Oers' breathing accelerates as her body prepares her for a fight-or-flight reaction. There's nowhere to flee to, so she has no choice but to stay and fight. She casts one last looks at the fading Lieutenant Appels, who gives her a tired but reassuring smile, and she points her rifle in the direction of the footsteps: the end of the maintenance corridor.

* * *

"You know, there comes a time... when you realize you've run out of every viable option," Fune says.

* * *

Multiple shadows rise on the bulkhead across the corridor, and Dr. Van Oers' finger tenses around the trigger. She can feel her heart beating faster with each passing moment.

* * *

"There comes a time when motivation and dedication make way for recognition."

* * *

Countless Altonoids replace the shadows. They fire their weapons and an inferno of phaser fire lights the dark corridor. Quickly, Doctor Van Oers squeezes the trigger with all her might.

* * *

"A time when you have to give in to the powers that outnumber you."

* * *

A few Altonoids get hit and slump to the floor, while the rest ignore them and continue their deathly march toward Dr. Van Oers and the defenseless Lt. Appels.

* * *

"A time... when the curtain falls."

* * *

The scent of smoke and burning flesh, the flashes of light coming from her phaser rifle, the shouts of the few Altonoids she kills—these are the final sensations the doctor feels before the enemy silences her and Lt. Appels forever.

* * *

Ensign Emily Murphy is exhausted. The wounded Tony Q seems to be getting heavier every step of the way as they travel the corridors of Station A-12 in search of some means of escape. Tony has got his arm wrapped around her shoulder, and now that he can barely walk along anymore, Ensign Murphy has to carry almost his entire weight. She wants to say something about it, but then she notices his pale face. He's still breathing and all, but his skin feels damp and cold. He's obviously in need of medical attention or at the very least some rest. Fortunately, they haven't encountered any Altonoids in a while—no conscious ones, that is.

Emily sighs in relief when she locates the doors leading to the shuttlebay. Several dead or unconscious Altonoids guard the exit. It's no problem to pass them.

"Commander, look," Ensign Murphy says once they've entered the shuttlebay.

Tony does what she says. He sees the shuttlebay, with four Type 11 shuttles stored in direct sight and enough headspace to park an extra set of shuttles on top of them. That means this shuttlebay must be about four decks tall, and there are probably a few more shuttles stored directly underneath. There's an elevated platform on the right. On the far side of the shuttlebay, there are two large shuttlebay doors. Right above those doors, two large windows provide an excellent view of the stars.

"Finally," Tony whispers. "Let's get out of here. That's an order." The mere thought of escaping this hellish station gains him a bit more strength.

They come down the stairs near the shuttlecraft that's on the right. "Let me see," Murphy says. She points at the platform. "Shuttlebay controls are over there."

"You go ahead and commence prelaunch procedures. I'll go start up the shuttle."

Ensign Murphy looks at his pallid face. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Believe me, it contains a comfy shuttle seat with my name on it."

"I suppose you're right," Emily replies sympathetically. "Besides, the sooner we get out of here, the better." She carefully lets Tony stand on his own feet.

It costs him a great deal of effort, and it looks as though he's about to collapse, but somehow he manages to walk to the shuttle's door. "Open Sesame!" Tony declares and he spreads his arms, which almost causes him to fall over. Though that action causes him some pain, he notices that he has made Ensign Murphy smile. "Worth it," he mumbles beneath his breath.

He locates a small access panel between the aft shuttle door and the left warp nacelle. After Tony types in his identification codes, practically the whole aft of the shuttle opens to form a ramp.

"Welcome, Commander Tony 'Q' Blue," the shuttle's computer says while the wounded Tony limps up the ramp. Blue... his real last name and a painful reminder of his regained humanity and mortality.

He enters the shuttle's command center, which is about the size of a large shed. It contains two wall panels on each side, a total of four seats, a U-shaped console layout in front, and a set of modern-looking windows. And of course there's the small transporter located in the back. Tony slowly moves to the right-front seat while clasping on to his phaser wound. He halts in front of the shuttle controls, and then, with a deep sigh of relief, sits down in that great soft chair...

* * *

Captain Suzan Reynolds gets flung off her chair and into the darkness, thanks to the Altonoids scoring another direct hit on the USS Wolf. She lands on the floor right next to the unconscious Lt. Stephanie Grant, who was hurled away from her helm station a few minutes ago during the phaser strike that broke off one of the warp nacelles. The burn marks on the young lieutenant's face look quite severe, but even though it pains Reynolds to see her chief helmsman wounded like this, there's simply no time to provide medical assistance.

To call the Wolf's bridge a bridge would be a compliment. What once was a pristine, modern work environment now looks like a cavern made out of plastic and metal. A flicker of light coming from one of the workstations that hasn't been fatally damaged yet momentarily illuminates the bridge. Even the emergency lights are failing; they cast intermittent light onto the damaged bridge. Lt. Cmdr. Anderson and Captain Reynolds are the last bridge officers who can still perform their duties—more or less. Of course, it's likely that there are quite a few other crew members still conscious throughout the large starship, but every room on the ship must be in very bad condition, judging by the way the bridge looks.

Anderson has rerouted control over every possible type of ship system to his damaged console. He can now control ops, helm, science, engineering, and of course tactical. The trickle of blood emanating from a concealed bruise beneath his hair normally would have him sent to sickbay, but now it's nothing more than a minor nuisance.

Captain Reynolds sits down on the captain's chair again. It's amazing how she manages to keep her command presence even though she's in almost the same bad shape as the bridge. "Status report!" With all that racket going on around her, she has to scream in order to make her orders audible.

"Um..." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson looks at the last, flickering display he's left to work with. "Every primary, secondary, and tertiary system is fried, smashed, or damaged! Many crew members are dead, missing, or wounded!"

"I know our condition! What about them?" Captain Reynolds shouts.

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson reroutes his console to display sensor information. Even an untrained eye can see that the sensor system is failing, as the information it provides is garbled at best. "I can only see that we've managed to knock their tractor beam system offline!"

"Well, it's something," Captain Reynolds says, unwilling to give in to the hopelessness of this whole situation.

"Wait. I believe I'm reading an increase in power output near their phaser array. They've boosted power to—"

"Return fire! Everything we've got!" Captain Reynolds shouts immediately.

Anderson attempts to reconfigure his console back to tactical, to no avail.

"Commander?!" Captain Reynolds shouts as she turns around to face Anderson. That air of perseverance that is so typical of her is starting to make way for anxiety. The Massal's weapons are powering up behind her on the damaged viewscreen. It doesn't seem like the Altonoids will launch another massive, single phaser strike like the one that carved the Kennedy in two. No, they're complacent enough to simply boost power to their phaser system, knowing full well that that will do the trick. The captain looks back at the viewscreen. It takes her only a few moments to see that the Altonoids are mere seconds away from firing. "Evasive maneuvers!" she shouts at the top of her voice.

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson frantically tries to reroute his console back to helm. It's too late. The Massal fires four phaser beams at the Wolf and scores a direct hit.

The Wolf's saucer buckles and its structural integrity fails. The phaser beams smash right through multiple decks, only to come out on the other side, vaporizing everything in its path, whether it be corridors, ship systems, or crew members. The entire ship gets knocked off its course and now faces Station A-12, as if signaling defeat to the victorious Altonoids.

* * *

The Altonoids in the conference room start cheering. All except Letor Fune, who looks at his men in proud silence. This was an inevitable victory they have all worked very hard for. But his men stop cheering unexpectedly early. He can see why; the crippled USS Wolf has tilted to face them and is slowly moving toward the station! It's practically heading straight for the conference room! Letor Fune gives the Altonoid nearest to the wall panel an inquiring look.

"Scanners indicate that the Wolf's propulsion system is offline. They can't change their current trajectory," the young Altonoid officer explains. "Our ship reports that they can't stop the Wolf, because their tractor beam system is offline."

"What?" Letor Fune shouts. "Raise shields!" Then he realizes that this station has no shields, and the shield around the hostage room only prevents people from beaming in or out. It won't prevent a starship of nearly 500 meters in length from crashing into it! "Order our ship to target all phasers and blow them out of the stars!"

"It's no use, sir. That won't stop the wreckage from hitting the station." He does his best to sound calm and collected, but the young Altonoid's eyes betray his fear. "In fact, it would only accelerate the debris and make the collision even worse."

Letor Fune can't believe what is happening. Moments ago, the Wolf resembled a helpless prey signaling defeat. Now it's heading straight for him like a predator that's after only one thing: his blood.

* * *

"Captain!" Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson shouts as he frantically tries to regain control over the ship with that one console he's left to work with. "I can't bring thruster control back online. All circuits are fried. I need to—"

"Warning. Collision is imminent," the crackling computer voice says.

Leif Anderson waits for the computer to finish her sentence. The massive beating that knocked the ship off course caused him to bang his already injured head against the bulkhead behind him. The trickle of blood coming from his black hair now feels as though it's forming a small river. His legs are weakening, and he's having difficulty staying focused. That won't stop him from trying to save the ship, though. "Captain, I need you to open the ops/helm console and manually work your way through the standard rerouting procedures while I attempt to input new commands. I can't do it all from here."

Captain Reynolds doesn't respond.

"Captain? Captain?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts with growing desperation.

The captain doesn't respond.

Lt. Cmdr. Anderson sighs. She must be unconscious—or worse. She's just sitting there, staring at the viewscreen that displays the scrambled image of Station A-12 getting closer and closer. The Wolf is headed straight for the station they were sent to protect and there is nothing he can do about it. Despite the shoddy quality of the broken viewscreen, Anderson can clearly make out the conference room's large window and the shuttlebay a number of decks below it.

* * *

Commander Tony Q, who's still seated in the Type 11 shuttle he confiscated only a little while ago, can see the USS Wolf through the large shuttlebay windows. No doubt about it, it's on collision course. He saw what a blow she was left to deal with by the giant Massal-class prototype. The sight of the dying starship closing in has a hypnotizing effect. Automatically, his mind goes over some relevant statistics. The Wolf is an Akira-class starship. That means it has nineteen decks and a total mass of over three million metric tons! This shuttlebay is only four decks high...

Tony knows it's time for action. They've got to get out of here, and fast! He looks around, deciding what to do. When he looks to the right, he sees Ensign Murphy operating the controls on the platform, unaware of the impending collision. When he looks to the left, he sees the vague outlines of a man sitting in the cockpit of the far left shuttle. There's no time for Tony to react, though, because the left shuttlebay door starts to open! Air rushes out of the shuttlebay and into open space with a deafening roar.

"What the hell?" Tony shouts. His wound punishes him immediately by sending up a bout of agony. The heavy shuttlecraft he's in slides a foot or so toward the open bay door due to the rushing air, resulting in an awful scraping noise.

Ensign Murphy—who weighs considerably less than a shuttlecraft, lucky her—is taken completely by surprise as the sudden air displacement knocks her off the platform. She can barely hold on to the platform railing, but she's unable to hold on to her phaser rifle, which slips from her hands and flies toward the open bay door.

Tony Q's fingers race over his console as he tries to gain access to transporter control as quickly as possible. To his relief, he manages to get a transporter lock on her in no time at all. A moment later, Ensign Murphy materializes behind him in a bright transporter beam. Her hair is a total mess. Every muscle in her body is tensed up, until she realizes she is safe. Naturally, her first instinct is to thank Tony for saving her life.

"What on earth were you thinking?!" Ensign Murphy screams. "Opening the shuttlebay door like that! I could've been killed!"

"I didn't do anything!" Tony replies as he lifts up the palms of his hands to signal sincere innocence. "Honestly." Before he can explain the situation, it's already explained by the fact that the far left shuttle is currently leaving through the opened bay door.

"How did he open the door like that?" asks Ensign Murphy, who's still fuming. However, her anger quickly gets replaced by a shocked gasp when she finally notices the large Wolf closing in rapidly.

* * *

"Diverting power to inertial dampeners." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson tries his very best to somehow improve the situation, but that's nearly impossible now that he has to control all ship functions with one small LCARS panel. The surrounding panels on his console have already shorted out on him. He knows there's little point in trying to stop the ship; however, it's his duty to try at the very least. He glances at the motionless Captain Reynolds, who is still staring at the viewscreen, though he's uncertain whether she's still conscious or not.

The bridge shudders. Leif Anderson takes another look at the panel, only to see it flooding with alerts. Its system is crashing. After some indistinct error messages, the panel dims and leaves him with a completely dark workstation. The viewscreen has now become the only light source, and the garbled image of Station A-12 shines erratic bright light onto the bridge.

There's nothing left to do. Only now does Leif Anderson realize how little is left of his energy. The warm stream of blood running down his face feels as if it's inviting him to lose consciousness. Moments before he gives in to this overwhelming desire to rest, he gives the captain one last look. Then, his legs give way and he lands on the shattered remains of a nearby workstation. The landing is pleasantly painless, and the last thing going through his mind is a question whose answer is soon to become irrelevant: Is my mind playing tricks on me, or did I really see Captain Reynolds bracing herself for impact?

* * *

The sight of the approaching Wolf fills the entire conference room window. Watching the space battle from a safe distance has been comfortable for the Altonoids, but now the battle is about to become tangible—literally.

All Altonoid officers except Letor Fune run out of the room in a desperate and instinctive reaction. They know it's a pointless exercise. You can't escape a huge starship on collision course just by exiting the room you're in... At the same time, they realize that trying to escape this area is probably the only way to stand a chance—however slight—of surviving.

Only Letor Fune and the four Starfleet flag officers remain in the conference room. Halfheartedly, Admiral Van Aken gets up and prepares to make a run for it too.

"You stay here!" Letor Fune shouts as he draws his weapon and aims it at the four officers. Admiral Van Aken, Commander Levine, Captain Duvivier, and Commander Jansen understand it is pointless to run anyway, so they don't resist.

Fune is not half as self-confident as he was a minute ago. He thought he had won the battle, and he did. But he didn't expect it to happen this way, at the cost of his own life... The only thing left for him to do is to make absolutely sure that the flag officers die with him.

* * *

Ensign Murphy has seated herself to the left of Tony Q and is working the controls to try to open the shuttlebay door right in front of them. Sure, the left bay door is wide open, but because of the shuttles that are parked nearby, it would require time-consuming maneuvering to get the shuttle there. Right now, time is something they simply cannot afford to lose.

The Wolf is so close that it looks colossal. Tony and Emily can almost point out every phaser burn mark on its hull. At this range, it's painfully obvious how much damage this ship has had to endure. Its weapon pod and starboard warp nacelle are missing, and its hull is scorched and torn... practically everywhere.

Emily still can't get the door to open. "It seems that without the proper access codes only Starfleet personnel with the rank of captain or admiral are cleared to open these bay doors from within the shuttle."

"Wanna bet?" Cmdr. Tony Q spurs to action. There's no more time to do things by the book. He accesses helm control and initializes a short burst of the shuttle's ventral thrusters, causing the shuttle to lift up a bit. He commands the impulse engines to fire and the shuttle dashes forward. In a few seconds, the shuttle covers the distance to the other side of the bay. Just when they're about to smash into the bay door, Tony Q unleashes the shuttle's firepower (i.e. one phaser beam that does the trick) and blows it up. As they move through the field of smoke and darkness, they can only hope for the best.

The shuttle breaks free of the station, along with the scorched remains of the bay door. The dispersing debris and dust reveals the crippled Akira-class starship. It's about to crush the two young officers! The saucer's rim overflies them, but now the tiny shuttle is heading straight for the sparking remains of the Wolf's deflector dish. With sweaty hands and a heartbeat to match, Tony orders the shuttle to roll down as fast as it can, and despite the fact that the inertial dampeners cancel out all g-forces, Tony can't help but feel queasy as the devastated USS Wolf rolls from view to continue her path of imminent destruction.

Now that they're relatively safe at last, Tony and Emily simultaneously let out a long sigh of relief.

* * *

The Wolf obscures all the stars from view for the few people remaining in the deserted conference room. Amidst the abandoned seats, tables, and half-empty buffet carts, Letor Fune holds the four captured officers at gunpoint. The atmosphere is tense to say the least, and for good reason too. The Starfleet officers will get shot if they attempt to leave, even though by now it's become completely nonsensical to try to make a run for it. Their impending doom thickens the air. Sweat drips down Letor Fune's face. Nobody dares to move a muscle.

Suddenly, Admiral Van Aken walks over to the window. This certainly attracts everyone's attention, but Letor Fune refrains from firing his weapon. The admiral turns around to face Letor Fune, points at the large starship that's barreling down on all of them, and says, "This! This is how it feels to have everything you stand for, everything you believe in, come crashing down upon you!"

Letor Fune doesn't know how to react to this; he just stares at the admiral in baffled silence.

The edges of the Wolf's saucer move out of view because of the lack of a big enough window. It's that close. As the entire front of the saucer simply disappears from view, it becomes clear that the Wolf will hit the area four decks below the conference room first.

It was inevitable. It had to happen. The Wolf smashes into the station in an astonishing display of catastrophic violence. The conference room (and no doubt the entire station) quakes excessively, knocking Admiral Van Aken and the other four over. The lights flicker once and then go dark while the floor and bulkheads are beginning to lose their structure. Even though the station mainly consists of a dense duranium/tritanium alloy, it now feels as if it was made out of cardboard.

The impacting Wolf keeps moving forward, accompanied by the awful noise of metal scraping against metal, of ship and station systems exploding, of decks crumbling, of havoc...  
Admiral Van Aken has landed on his back and watches helplessly as the higher decks of the Wolf head straight for the conference room. But well before those decks can hit the room, the floor starts to rise and squashes the window in an instant! Yard by yard, the floor is pressed against the ceiling by the hulk of the USS Wolf moving underneath it. The entire floor rises at a steep angle, causing destruction to move through the conference room, unstoppable like a tidal wave.

Admiral van Aken tumbles backward into the room, toward the falling Letor Fune, Duvivier, Jansen, and Levine. Tables, chairs, and buffet carts are crushed, mingled with the rest of the debris, or tossed to the back of the room by the moving floor. The Altonoid and Federation flag, which were mounted on the wall, fall down together and cover the five humanoids, binding them in their inescapable demise.

There's only the feeling of debris hitting the canvas that covers them, the floor beneath them moving toward the ceiling, the muffled sounds of crushing metal everywhere...

...until suddenly, they can't feel the canvas and movement anymore. Until suddenly, they can't hear the sounds of destruction anymore. Until suddenly, everything is gone.

* * *

The Wolf causes tremendous damage to the station and crushes many of its decks, while the ship's total lack of structural integrity causes its own brittle hull to crumble like tinfoil. Its speed decreases quickly as the sheer mass of the much and much heavier station tears the hulk of the Wolf apart, mutilating its saucer beyond recognition. Debris and explosions obscure most of the damage, until the station's structure finally forces the remains of the starship to come to a complete stop.

The destruction isn't over just yet.

The missing weapon pod, combined with the extensive damage on practically every single piece of hull, causes the two weakened warp nacelle pylons to bend forward. Like giant arms clutching on to the station, the crumbling pylons move forward and away from each other. The left pylon still contains a dimmed warp nacelle, which is launched into the side of the station and causes a final scene of destruction as it completely disintegrates, etching away a decent portion of the station's exterior plating and opening up dozens of corridors and chambers.

The dead, unrecognizable Wolf holds the station in a morbid embrace. Not a single light is left shining on the scorched ship. Station A-12 is also severely damaged but still holds its ground. Although everyone on the station must be quite shaken, many areas were not that badly hit. Station A-12 has withstood the immense crash, suffered a considerable amount of damage that probably won't be repaired again anytime soon, but it's still largely operational. There's no way around it: the Altonoids have won this battle.

* * *

Ensign Emily Murphy can hardly bear to watch the horrible sight of the crashed Wolf. On the central display, she could see the whole collision occurring, and it's left her at a complete loss for words. Tony Q doesn't look at the little screen; he's just sitting there in mournful silence, staring out the starboard window.

Emily Murphy knows there is nothing she can do about the current situation. Situation, she muses, a euphemism for loss. She tries to concentrate on shuttle operations from her side of the helm console. "The Altonoid vessel doesn't seem to mind us. It's heading for Station A-12—to offer assistance, no doubt. Station A-12 is severely damaged, but it's powering up again. I suggest we head out of here and—"

She notices that Tony is still staring out of the window. Confused for a second, she tries to see what has captured his attention. It's impossible to miss; what remains of the stardrive section of the USS Kennedy is slowly rotating away from the battle site. The law of inertia ensures that the dark ship hulk, which is still spewing out its remnant debris, will remain in motion indefinitely. The two sleek warp nacelles make it clear: this is what's left of a Sovereign-class vessel, the Kennedy, the ship Tony Q once served on, albeit for a short period of time. With the destruction of the Kennedy and the deaths of its officers, the only people who really cared for him have now perished.

"Scan for escape pods," Tony calmly orders as his eyes search the debris.

"None that I can detect."

"No life signs?"

A short silence. "None. I'm sorry..."

He wants to say something comforting, but he can't make himself say anything at all. He gives the remains of the USS Kennedy one last look, then looks at the display showing Station A-12 and the crashed USS Wolf. He takes a deep breath. "Let's get the hell out of here," he says in a very tired voice that sounds too mature for someone so young.

Piloted by Ensign Murphy, the shuttlecraft warps out, leaving behind Station A-12, the Massal prototype, and the remains of all Altonoid and Federation starships that didn't survive what will become known as the Station A-12 debacle.

* * *

Stardust streaks across the windows of the shuttlecraft as the ensign and the commander travel at almost 300 times the speed of light. Each passing moment takes them farther away from that Altonoid-ridden space station and brings them closer to safety.

"Holding steady at warp 5.5," Ensign Murphy reports.

"Current heading?" Tony softly asks.

"We're headed straight for Starbase 9."

"Alter course to the Nedron system and increase velocity to warp 6."

"T... Sir?" Ensign Murphy asks, almost calling her commanding officer by his first name.

"There should've been a large fleet standing by in the Nedron system to assist us if things went awry at the station," Tony explains. "This was supposed to be classified, of course, but try hiding intel from a group of omnipotent beings."

"So why didn't the backup fleet reach Station A-12?"

"Something must've kept them busy. I fear for the worst," Tony sighs. "However, if the fleet is still there... One friendly vessel is all we need. A starship can travel a lot faster than a shuttlecraft. They might give us a ride. Also, we must inform them of what's happened at Station A-12."

A brief silence.

"And you want someone to take a look at your phaser wound as soon as possible," Ensign Murphy says without looking up from the controls.

"Yeah," Cmdr. Tony Q admits, and he smiles subtly.

Now that the conversation is over, he decides to close his eyes for a little while. It's not like there's much for him to do anyway, besides pondering the ramifications of the situation he's gotten himself into. Mere hours ago, he had the entire universe at his fingertips. Now, he possesses nothing but a tired, wounded human body, a uniform, and a Starfleet rank. Gradually, however, he stops worrying about his current predicament and subconsciously decides to give in to his state of absolute exhaustion. While alternating between praising the brilliant engineer who designed this shuttle seat and promising himself to stay awake, he slowly drifts off to sleep.

* * *

After an uncertain amount of time, Commander Tony Q awakens, thanks to a bleeping sound emanating from the shuttle controls. It takes a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the bright interior lighting of the comfortable shuttle cockpit.

"Sensors are picking up a shuttle ahead of us. It's headed for the Nedron system, just like us," Ensign Murphy reports. "Its hull has a Starfleet signature. Confirming... Yes, it's another Type 11 shuttlecraft."

"Great..." Tony mumbles. He is still feeling a bit drowsy, and the pain of his wound floods back into his body as the sleep dissipates.

"That shuttle's traveling at a slightly slower pace. Cross-referencing current trajectory, speed, and shuttlecraft data..." Ensign Murphy continues. "Yep. That shuttle's from Station A-12. Its pilot must be the one who almost got me killed in the shuttlebay!" With newfound anger, she presses a few buttons and says, "Hailing frequencies open." The look she gives Tony makes it crystal clear she expects him to handle this situation.

Tony is not too eager to actually have to do something in his current condition. He's even less eager to argue with Ensign Murphy, so what the heck... He sighs and tries to sound more intact than he really is. "This is Commander Tony Q of the shuttlecraft... whatever this bloody thing is called. What's your status?"

A moment of silence passes. Just when Tony Q wants to repeat his message, the shuttle's pilot responds, audio only. "Hello Tony," a raspy, tired voice slowly says. "This is Captain Stephan Rinckes."

"Captain Rinckes? So you made it out in one piece. I suppose you're also headed for the backup fleet?"

"Yes," Captain Rinckes practically whispers.

"I regret the loss of your ship. We lost the Kennedy as well."

"I know."

Silence. Tony gives Ensign Murphy a quizzical look. With a brief nod, she prompts him to continue. "I'm here with an ensign called Emily Murphy. She served on the Kennedy. It appears we are the only ones who got away... We lost a lot of good people back there."

Too much time (though it can't be more than a few seconds) passes. "Yes."

Tony hesitates. This is getting a little awkward. "We almost lost Ensign Murphy too," he continues, "when you opened the shuttlebay door, decompressing the shuttlebay with her in it. I could barely save her."

Ensign Murphy eagerly awaits Captain Rinckes' response.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know she was there."

"All right, but a standard sweep of the immediate area before decompressing the shuttlebay would've been prudent. Also, a simple force field would've prev—"

"I'm sorry. Please follow me to the Nedron system." With that, the captain closes the channel.

Surprised, Ensign Murphy asks Tony, "Is Captain Rinckes always like this?"

"Yeah," Cmdr. Tony Q says. "A capable officer, but a bit on the cranky side." Still, Captain Rinckes seemed preoccupied rather than cranky. And the way he spoke... Tony had never heard him speak like that before. He sounded... empty.

"I'm relieved to hear the shuttlebay incident was just a mistake," Ensign Murphy says, though she doesn't sound too convinced.

Cmdr. Tony Q shakes his thoughts. "Yes. Even captains make mistakes. That's why we have commanders." He gives the pretty ensign one of his best smiles.

"And then there are the ensigns who save the infallible commanders," Ensign Murphy deadpans.

* * *

Several hours later, Tony sees the streaks of stellar dust fading into a normal view of the stars. They've dropped out of warp. Captain Rinckes' shuttle is slightly ahead of them, as it has been for most of the journey. The nearby Garcon Nebula, a giant dust cloud that combines the colors lilac and blue in a most stunning way, forms an enthralling sight. Unfortunately, so does the graveyard of ships in front of it.

"I knew it," Tony sighs. "Man, what a day..."

"They could be Altonoid ships," Emily Murphy says, trying to sound hopeful. Her console starts bleeping. "We've received a text message from Captain Rinckes. He orders us to investigate the nebula and its surroundings and come back with a report once we're done."

"All right. Captain's orders," Tony Q says. "Take us in closer, Ensign." Leaving the captain behind, they steadily approach the nebula and the ominous starship graveyard.

Soon enough, a few Altonoid ship hulks become recognizable, but they are largely outnumbered by the remains of Federation starships. "Sensors are picking up thirty-nine destroyed vessels," Ensign Murphy says. "Thirty-one of them are Starfleet vessels." There's a sad edge to her voice, despite her best efforts to maintain a professional air of detachment.

Tony doesn't reply. In his head, he makes a bleak estimation of how many thousands of deaths the destruction of thirty-one vessels must have caused.

"Commander," Ensign Murphy says, breaking the silence. "There's no way eight Altonoid vessels could've done that. There must've been more."

Tony Q nods without looking away from the graveyard.

"What if they're still here?" Emily asks with a twinge of fear in her voice.

"Boost power to sensors. Scan for Altonoid vessels," Tony says softly.

A few uneasy seconds pass. "None within sensor range," Ensign Murphy says. "But they could be cloaked."

"We'll scout the area for any survivors and additional information, and then we'll head straight back to the captain. Agreed?" Tony Q says, and he looks at Emily for the first time in this conversation.

"Agreed."

Slowly but steadily, they enter the cluster of defeated starships. Despite being the size of a 21st century truck, the shuttle is absolutely dwarfed in comparison with the ship hulks as it flies through the maze of debris. An almost immeasurable amount of torn hull bears silent witness to the tragedy that has taken place here. An old Miranda-class ship slowly floats by, its saucer cut in half, showing many decks that have been eaten away by phaser fire. The remains of the USS Yeager litter the surface of a maimed Excelsior-class vessel.

Practically every ship class, new or old, has a few dead ships representing them here in this collection of derelict ship hulks reminiscent of the graveyard left by the battle of Wolf 359, which took place over thirteen years ago. The wreck of the Galaxy-class USS Trinculo becomes visible through the hull breaches of an Akira-class ship lost today. That Galaxy-class ship alone must've held over one thousand crew members and civilians. Now, it hangs in space, dark and silent, with its saucer section bent downward on its crushed neck.

The cloud of defeated starships is becoming less dense, which means they've passed through the biggest part of the graveyard. The shuttle's sensors are scanning nonstop. "I'm not picking up any life signs," Ensign Murphy says.

"Well," Tony sighs. He hesitates for a moment as they pass the crippled Ambassador-class USS Sylvester. "It's time we start back."

Tony can't even gasp for air to say the next sentence, because suddenly the view of the colorful Garcon Nebula becomes severely blurred, as if the shuttle is breaking through the iridescent surface of an enormous soap bubble. Various warnings go off, and Ensign Murphy immediately begins to study the abundance of incoming data in order to find out what the hell is going on.

Just as suddenly, the view outside the shuttle's windows stabilizes, the warning sounds are silenced, and the same beautiful Garcon Nebula becomes clear to see. Something has changed radically, though. Dozens of Altonoid warships have appeared only a few miles away from the shuttle!

Ensign Murphy interprets the data displayed on her console. "We seem to have passed through a subspace rupture. We've entered some sort of subspace well."

"Yeah... Well... Look!" Tony says while gesturing at the many Altonoid ships. They're all facing the nebula in eerie stillness.

"Sensors are reading seventy Altonoid vessels ahead of us," Ensign Murphy calmly says. "Total power output is zero. No life signs."

Tony stares at the dead warships. Altonoid vessels in general are even larger than Federation starships. To see them all motionless and devoid of life is a chilling sight, though it's a welcome change from seeing all those destroyed friendly vessels. "How did this happen?"

Ensign Murphy needs a few seconds to figure that out. "It appears that all power sources aboard their ships have been neutralized by this subspace well." Before Tony can say something in return, Ensign Murphy comes up with a possible explanation. "The sensors say this subspace well contained a serious amount of boson particles of a specific type that's supposed to be purely hypothetical. Given these conditions, these particles are believed to drain power from all ship systems instantaneously. That's what must have happened here."

"Uh-huh. So why aren't we affected?" Tony asks, and at the same time he's impressed with the many things they teach cadets at the Academy these days.

"Like I said, it contained the particles. Once again, the theory is that, once deployed, these particles linger for a relatively brief period of time, before leaking back into normal space where they'll become completely harmless. The amount of residual particles suggests that if we had arrived here, say, five minutes ago, we would've been in serious trouble."

"If I hadn't brought you along I would've been in trouble too," Tony says with a smile. "You know an awful lot about science for a—"

"Security ensign, yes," Ensign Murphy agrees. "Well, I can do a lot more than wield a phaser and look dangerous."

They both chuckle. For a moment, Cmdr. Tony Q forgets all about his phaser wound, even though he is looking unhealthier by degrees. He looks out of the windows, at the seventy dead Altonoid ships hanging in front of one of the most beautiful nebulae in the Milky Way. Then, he looks Ensign Murphy in the eyes a bit too long to mistake it for a short glance, and says, "A stunning sight, don't you agree?"

Ensign Murphy quickly shifts her look to the nebula and says, "It's like an oasis after what happened earlier today."

Silently, the shuttle keeps moving forward. After some time they pass the seventy Altonoid vessels. The dead fleet looks remarkably serene, with their dark hulls glowing in the shimmering light coming from the eye-catching nebula.

"Let's head back," Tony sighs after they've come to a full stop approximately five kilometers from the nebula. "We've seen enough here. Odd place, this. I mean... of all the places, this subspace well forms near a battle, apparently destroying only the Altonoid vessels—and dozens of them!"

"I can't help it," Ensign Murphy replies with a shrug. "It's what the sensors say. Besides, I have reason to believe this well was created artificially."

"This just can't get any vaguer," the puzzled commander says. "What are we supposed to report to Captain Rinckes once we get back?" He starts talking to thin air. "Yes, hello. First we saw what was left of the Federation backup fleet. Then we entered a subspace well, yes, a subspace well, which contained not contains some exotic new type of boson particle, which happened to destroy seventy Altonoid vessels inside that—by the way artificially created— subspace well. And then—"

An alert goes off, and Tony stops his theatrical performance for a moment.

Ensign Murphy leans forward to access her console and says dryly, "We're being hailed by the nebula."

Tony stares at her for a brief moment, and then continues his melodramatic rant. "Of course we're being hailed by the nebula! What else did you expect?" He presses a button on his console and replies the hail. "Hello, nebula. How are we feeling today?"

"Relaying communications to the screen," Ensign Murphy says with a hint of a smile.

Cmdr. Tony Q wants to look at the window in front of him, remembers that this is just a shuttle with no viewscreen, and looks at the built-in monitor instead. A slim man in his early fifties appears on the monitor. He's clearly a Starfleet captain and the state-of-the-art bridge that surrounds him looks advanced to say the least. In fact, it looks like nothing Cmdr. Tony Q or Ensign Murphy has ever seen before.

"This is Captain Keith Harriman of the USS Achilles," the captain says. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"I can't say I expected you here either. I am Commander Tony Q."

"I know. Your reputation precedes you," Captain Harriman says with a brief, charming smile on his lean face. "And who's the ensign next to you?"

"Ensign Emily Murphy, sir," she replies. "Of the USS Kennedy."

Tony can't wait to get some answers. "I take it that your ship is part of what remains of the backup fleet?"

Captain Harriman nods. "Yes, the Achilles and ten other ships. We're all hiding inside this nebula."

"Ah... Why?"

"Until a few minutes ago, the volatile particles inside the subspace well were still too powerful for our ships to handle. You can see what it did to the Altonoid ships."

"Yes. That's still a bit puzzling, to be honest. In fact, practically everything here is a bit puzzling."

Captain Harriman explains, "Moments after we heard the message from Letor Fune about Station A-12 being taken over by Altonoids, we were attacked by a fleet of seventy-eight Altonoid vessels. I don't know how they found us, but they did. We barely had time to go to red alert. We lost thirty-one of our ships in the subsequent battle, and things were definitely looking bad for us. But then, suddenly, a mysterious message sent to the remaining ships in our fleet told us to fly into the nebula and stand by."

Cmdr. Tony Q and Ensign Murphy are listening carefully.

"Normally we wouldn't simply follow random orders from unknown origin... but this was not the kind of situation that encouraged holding conferences about possible alien influences, so we complied. As soon as our last ship entered the nebula, the mysterious subspace well formed and immediately disabled all Altonoid vessels. The nebula's composition shielded us from the particles' harmful effects. We've been in here for hours now, waiting for the right moment to leave the nebula."

"Consider it safe," Tony Q remarks.

"Consider us lucky," Ensign Murphy adds.

The slender captain smiles briefly before saying in a serious tone, "We would really like to find out who sent us the message and created this subspace well. However, there is one thing we all want to know first. What happened at Station A-12?"

Tony's face hardens. "I'm afraid that I, Ensign Murphy here, and Captain Rinckes are the only ones who got away. Rinckes is waiting for us in a shuttle outside the well."

"So few made it out?" Captain Harriman sighs. "But aren't you a Q? You appear to be injured. How is that possible?"

"It's a very, very long story, Captain. We request permission to dock."

Captain Harriman nods. "Permission granted. Proceed to shuttlebay 3 as soon as we've cleared the nebula. We'll pick up Captain Rinckes and head back to Starbase 9 for repairs. I'll have sickbay ready to take care of your wounds."

"Thank you," Tony says.

Captain Harriman nods at what should be the helmsman, who's seated out of view. "Take us out, Lieutenant. Signal the fleet to do the same." With a confident grin, he directs his attention back to Tony and Emily. "We'll be there in a moment. Harriman out."

* * *

A faint shadow forms and grows within the nebula. The shadow's outlines gradually become clear through the clouds of blue and lilac shapes. Two distinct red lights begin to grow visible through the mist—the lights of what have to be two modernly designed warp nacelles. A horizontal, blue light source between the warp nacelles reveals the presence of a new type of deflector dish. The ship's appearance progressively becomes less blurred as the ship approaches the nebula's perimeter.

And then the Achilles breaks through, stirring pockets of colorful dust in its wake. Commander Tony Q and Ensign Murphy have never seen this type of ship in action before, mostly because the Achilles is of a relatively new design. It's a state-of-the-art starship almost the size of a Sovereign-class vessel but even sleeker looking. The ship appears to be a mere eleven, twelve decks high, but it looks muscular, as if it's constantly ready to pick a fight.

From the shuttle, Cmdr. Tony Q and Ensign Murphy have a clear view of the newest deflector technology and scientific research combined in the form of a wide, flat deflector dish glowing with blue light. Its primary hull follows the latest design trend of having a triangular-shaped saucer with the front edge seemingly cut off. Two distinctively short warp nacelles flank the ship's long secondary hull. It is definitely an awe-inspiring ship; despite having suffered minor battle damage, it still looks as if it can move moons with a single sigh.

The ship moves past their line of sight, and the two young officers direct their attention to the Garcon Nebula again. One by one, multiple shadows form inside the nebula. Each shadow grows independently until it becomes possible to recognize its shape. As if looking at the ships through blue and lilac stained glass, the shapes inevitably grow larger and more detailed. Yet, somehow, whenever they break through the boundaries of the nebula, it seems completely unanticipated, as if a distant dream suddenly turns out to be a tangible truth.

Ten Federation starships appear from the nebula, from a small yet powerful Defiant-class vessel to two of the majestic Galaxy-class starships. They're all creating different fountains of bright dust that are destined to flounder into open space, only to dissipate shortly after their creation.

The seventy Altonoid vessels with its killed occupants silently witness the surviving Federation starships exiting the nebula, and there is nothing that the remains of this mighty Altonoid fleet can do about it.

The view provided by the windows of the shuttle is filled with combat-ready Federation starships. Commander Tony Q watches it all with mixed feelings. He is glad to see that his great sacrifices may not have been completely in vain, but he is disappointed by the harsh fact that those sacrifices haven't made much of a difference yet. The Federation has lost so much today. He has lost so much today... No more life as a higher being. No more living outside the confines of the space-time continuum. Now he has reverted to being the life form he used to be, and a wounded one at that. He remembers the time before he became a full member of the Q Continuum. Having served on the USS Kennedy, having been a part of that fine crew, will always rank very high in his memories. But the Kennedy is no more...

He notices that Ensign Emily Murphy is looking at him expectantly. He meets her eyes and says with a smile, "It's time to go home."

END OF PART I

================================================================================================================================================

Thank you for reading the whole thing. You're the best!


End file.
